Ireland eye big lead after seamers strike

Ireland tightened their grip over the Intercontinental Cup game against UAE in Dublin, seamers Craig Young and John Mooney chipping away at the visitors' batting to reduce them to 207 for 8 in pursuit of the hosts' massive total.

Ireland ended within touching distance of 500, but UAE would have been pleased with their bowlers' efforts in the morning, when the hosts lost their last seven wickets for 68.

Seamer Amjad Javed started UAE's fightback when he dismissed double-centurion Ed Joyce, Andy Balbirnie and Gary Wilson in three successive overs. While Joyce and Balbirnie were trapped leg-before with full deliveries, Wilson nicked a lifter to the wicketkeeper.

When Mooney edged a drive off Mohammad Naveed to gully three overs later, Ireland had been reduced to 435 for 7, having started the second day on 420 for 3.

Kevin O'Brien and George Dockrell halted the fall of wickets with a 35-run partnership, but Fayyaz Ahmed broke the stand as soon as he was brought back into the attack when he removed O'Brien for a swift 29. Dockrell was stranded on 22 when Javed took out last man Young for his fourth wicket.

Ireland had lasted 24.3 overs into the day, and the UAE top order built on their bowling momentum. Amjad Ali took 31 deliveries to score a run and then pulled Mooney straight to midwicket, but Asif Iqbal and Saqib Ali developed a partnership, taking the score to 75 for 1.

Young sent back both set batsmen in successive overs, bowling Iqbal for 43 and getting Saqib lbw for 27.

Khurram Khan (24) and Swapnil Patil (30) put on 51 for the fourth wicket, but Ireland found someone else to nip another growing partnership, and UAE lost two set batsmen in consecutive overs again, this time to Mooney.

Now Dockrell struck twice as UAE slipped to 162 for 8. Ireland would have eyed a 300-plus lead at that point, but Shaiman Anwar and Naveed denied them till stumps with an unbeaten 45-run partnership. Anwar, UAE's leading run-getter at the World Cup, pulled Dockrell for his eighth four to reach his half-century in the penultimate over of the day.