Ireland off the mark at last

Namibia 115 (36.3 overs); Ireland 116-4 (29.2 overs). Ireland won by six wickets.

Ireland secured a long-awaited first win in this ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup with a convincing six-wicket success against Namibia at the Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) ground on Wednesday.

Eoin Morgan's side bowled out their African opponents for just 115 in 36.3 overs and then knocked off the required runs for the loss of four wickets in just 29.2 overs.

It means they will now play in the Plate Championship play-off final on Saturday against the winners of the Scotland-Uganda clash, which will take place on Friday.

The winners of that final will be able to call themselves the 13th ranked team at the tournament.

Ireland's win was founded on excellent spin bowling with their trio of spinners - Gary Kidd, James Hall and Greg Thompson sharing eight wickets between them

Hall took 4-29, Kidd captured 3-26 and Greg Thompson picked up 1-11 and in the face of that trial by spin Namibia endured a torrid time.

Only three of their batsmen reached double figures and there were four ducks in the innings, three of them in the Namibia top-order.

Kidd removed both Pieter Grove and Dawid Botha - Namibia's two half-century makers against the United States on Tuesday - without scoring while Nicolaas Scholtz was the third top-order player who failed to score, removed by Richard Keaveney (1-9).

The only batsmen to reach 30 were opener Louis van der Westhuizen (32) and Henno Prinsloo, who remained unbeaten on 33.

The other successful bowler for Ireland was Niall McDarby (1-15).

A target of 116 was never going to be enough for Namibia to defend and with all four of the Ireland top four reaching 20 they eased to victory with more than 20 overs in hand.

Morgan was understandably delighted with the win and said afterwards: "This is long overdue for us.

"It was very difficult for us to go out after yesterday's loss (by three wickets to New Zealand after scoring 304) as that was hugely disappointing as we felt we should have won.

"But today we just set out to maintain our disciplines with ball, bat and in the field and that is what we did.

"Gary and James were magnificent as they exploited a pitch that took some turn and they troubled all the Namibian batsmen."

That Plate Championship play-off final is now next on Ireland's agenda and Morgan said it was a match he and his players were looking forward to.

"Yesterday we showed we can compete with a Test nation and today we have set out to show we are a top Associate nation and that is something we will aim to do against in the final," he said.

For Namibia coach Andy Waller, the result summed up his side's problems.

"We have played around one cricketer, Dawid Botha, and when he does not get runs we struggle," he said.

"That is a lot of pressure on a young player and we need some more top quality batsmen.

"We just do not have the stars with the bat and against good quality spin we were found wanting.

"We played bad cricket today but overall the improvement we have shown in the two weeks of this tournament has been immense.

"The senior national side has an ICC Intercontinental Cup play-off against Nepal at the end of March and I hope two or three of these lads are in that squad," he added.