Balbirnie inspires Irish victory at U19 Qualifier

An excellent all-round performance from Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie inspired Ireland to a 72-run defeat of Afghanistan at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

Balbirnie(102) and Lee Nelson (55) added 123 runs for the opening wicket, mixing some aggressive hitting with some good running between the wickets, as Ireland reached 289-7 off 50 overs.

Ben Ackland also displayed his batting talent by making 50 not out off 66 balls, with some aggressive hitting from Stuart Poynter (21 not out off eight balls) helping it set an imposing target.

Afghanistan, who had only arrived on Wednesday afternoon after a long flight from Kabul, showed some promise, with Zakiullah Zaki the pick of the bowlers with 2-41.

In reply, Afghanistan got off to a terrible start as it was reduced to 34-3, before some brave resistance from the middle order helped add respectability to the scorecard.

Among the runs were Asgar Hussain (51), Noor ul Haq (49), Aimal Wafa (45) and Zardi Ali (31), with Balbirnie (3-45) and Graham McDonnell (3-31) starring with the ball for Ireland.

Thursday's game involving the USA and Sierra Leone has been awarded to the USA due to Sierra Leone's failure to fulfill the scheduled fixture. USA will be awarded two points for winning the match.

On Friday, Uganda will play Papua New Guinea at Maple Leaf 2, Ireland faces USA at Maple Leaf 3, Hong Kong takes on Afghanistan at Maple Leaf 4 and Canada will play Netherlands at Malton. The Sierra Leone game against Vanuatu has been abandoned and is subject for rescheduling. For the playing conditions relating to how matches are rescheduled please refer to http://www.icc-cricket.com/events_and_awards/u19/index.php.