Canada stun Ireland with first-ever T20 World Cup victory

Canada's highest fifth-wicket partnership in T20s of 75 by Kirton and Movva helped them to the historic win

Ciaran McCarthy | 07/06/2024 at 19:07

New York: Canada 137-7, Ireland 125-7 - Canada won by 12 runs

Canada secured their first-ever T20 World Cup win with a 12-run victory over full-member nation Ireland.

Both sides were met with batting troubles early on; Ireland were reduced to 53 for 5, while Canada were 53 for 4 in the ninth over, with each of Aaron Johnson, Nanveet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh and Dilpreet Bajwa falling for nominal scores.

Craig Young (2 for 32) accounted for two of the four early Canada wickets, while Mark Adair (1 for 23) and Gareth Delany (1 for 20) chipped in with the others.

But it was the associate nation who recovered best, with No.5 and No.6 batters Nicholas Kirton and Shreyas Movva leading the rebuild, combining for 75 in their partnership, Canada's highest for the fifth wicket in T20Is.

The best over for the pair was the 16th, which they took for 18 - started and finished by Kirton sixes - and they also reached their 50 partnership and secured the highest score of this World Cup in New York in the process.

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^{Nicholas Kirton scored 49 for Canada (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)}

Kirton opened his shoulders on the way to 49 from 35 balls, before being rushed by a Barry McCarthy bumper which saw him caught at short fine leg. Dilon Heyliger was removed in the same over, trying to hoist McCarthy for six and picking out Josh Little at long on.

Movva departed soon after, as he was run out attempting to return for two on the final ball of the innings, helping Canada to 137 for 7.

Ireland struggled to recover from their early batting troubles having been in a similar position to their opponents early, though, despite a useful 62-run partnership between George Dockrell and Mark Adair.

Indeed, they were left needing to chase 17 from the final over, and Jeremy Gordon held his nerve, only conceding four runs, ensuring a 12-run victory.

He took the important wicket of Adair on the second ball to keep his side in front of the game, his second wicket of the game, on the way to figures of 2 for 16.

The other Canada wickets came courtesy of Heyliger (2 for 18), Saad Bin Zafar (1 for 22) and Junaid Siddiqui (1 for 27).

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