Canada hold off Ireland to earn maiden T20 World Cup win

Nicholas Kirton scored 49 off 35 balls to help Canada earn their first ever win at a men's T20 World Cup by beating Ireland by 12 runs on Friday in Group A.

Kirton helped Canada score 7-137 in 20 overs after they were put into bat in New York. Shreyas Movva also contributed 37 runs.

In reply, Ireland was restricted to 7-125 with medium pacers Jeremy Gordon and Dillon Heyliger taking two wickets each.

Canada is competing at the T20 World Cup for the first time and lost their opening game to the United States.

"It was a good wicket to bat on, except a couple of patches in the middle," Kirton said. "It was important to get set and bounce back from defeat in the first game. Our spinners bowled very well and got purchase from the wicket."

Opting to bowl, Ireland kept things tight in the Powerplay and Canada was fell to 4-53 in 8.1 overs before Kirton played a rescuing hand.

Kirton hit three fours and two sixes, following on from the 51 he scored against the USA in the first game. He put on 75 off 63 balls with Movva for the fifth wicket – a partnership that turned the game for Canada.

For Ireland, medium pacers Craig Young (2-32) and Barry McCarthy (2-24) took two wickets each.

At the start of their chase, the Irish could only manage a single boundary in the first six overs and reached 1-31 at the end of the Powerplay.

Openers Andrew Balbirnie (17) and Paul Stirling (9) fell cheaply and Canada then deployed spin, which further squeezed Ireland's scoring.

Heyliger used his medium pace to great effect during the middle overs, partnering with Gordon to finish with 4-34 from their combined eight overs.

George Dockrell scored 30 not out off 23 balls, and found aid from Mark Adair, who top scored with 34 off 24 balls.

But that wasn't enough to prevent Canada – the 23rd and lowest ranked T20 side competing at this year's event – from upsetting the Test playing nation and defending the third lowest target set by an Associate side in T20 World Cups.

Ireland play World Cup co-hosts USA in their next match next Friday, who they need to beat to keep their slim hopes of progressing to the Super Eight stage alive. Canada's next two matches are against powerhouses Pakistan and India.

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