Porterfield leads manic chase

Ireland comfortably beat United Arab Emirates by six wickets, in the one-off T20 match held at Sharjah. Ireland elected to field first, putting UAE under pressure straight away when Bakthiyar Palekar was dismissed by Paul Stirling in the first over. Tim Murtagh would inflict damage as he accounted for Amjad Ali and Salman Faris, leaving UAE to be reduced to 24 for 4 in the sixth over.
A 49-run stand between Swapnil Patil and Rohan Mustafa attempted to steady the ship, but UAE continued to lose wickets in regular intervals. UAE stuttered to 122 for 9 at the completion of their quota of overs. Murtagh was impressive with his 3 for 11, and was ably supported by the efforts of both George Dockrell and Stirling, who picked up two wickets each.
William Porterfield and Stirling led an eventual run chase early on as they were going at above ten an over in the first couple of overs. The two batsmen put up 54 for the first wicket, before Stirling was dismissed off Mustafa. Porterfield stayed on to anchor the innings, striking seven boundaries, including three sixes, as he finished with 58. Gary Wilson and Kevin O'Brien played the finishing role as Ireland chased down UAE's total in the 19th over.