Ireland on top thanks to Morgan century

UAE 77 for 4 trail Ireland 350 for 7 dec (EJG Morgan 151, JP Bray 78, Ali Asad 5-93) by 273 runs
Scorecard

Morgan celebrates his century for Ireland © ICC

Eoin Morgan provided the star turn of the first day of the ICC InterContinental Cup semi-final against the United Arab Emirates, scoring a scorching 151 that helped Ireland to an imposing 350 for seven declared. The Emirates closed on 77 for four, giving Ireland a 9-5 lead on a scoring system that is harder to fathom than Su Doku.

Morgan gave a demonstration of why coaches at his county club Middlesex believe he could soon be every bit as good as Ed Joyce with a superb selection of drives and wristy flicks through the leg-side. The 19-year-old's first century for Ireland was posted with a six over long on and he added 18 fours in an innings that spanned 150 balls.

Ireland got off to the best possible start, not only winning the toss on a baking hot day, but seeing Jeremy Bray and Dominick (corr) Joyce put on 111 for the first wicket before Joyce pulled a short ball to square leg 15 minutes before lunch.

Morgan, coming in at number three, took a quiet look at the bowling before going into lunch on seven, then came out and hit 116 runs in the afternoon session, a remarkable feat given that wickets were tumbling with regularity at the other end.

Bray was lbw on the front foot for 78 and Ireland were wobbling when Niall O'Brien departed after three balls, the Kent wicketkeeper appearing in too much of a hurry when he turned a leading edge back to Ali Asad.

Peter Gillespie found an unusual way to get out when he was lbw to Kashif Ahmed - the eighth bowler used by the Emirates - then Trent Johnston joined Morgan in a key stand of 94 for the fifth wicket.

Johnston was caught on the boundary for 30 but the by the time Morgan was finally lbw, Ireland were in sight of a seventh batting bonus point and declared as soon as they achieved it.

If Morgan's century wasn't enough to delight the quartet of North County members who have travelled to watch these finals, Paul Mooney then took two wickets in successive balls in his first over. Johnston was also successful with the ball and Kyle McCallan rounded off a fine day with a wicket in the final over.

But it wasn't all good news for North County. Allrounder Conor Armstrong suffered the injury of a cut mouth to add to the insult of being bowled off his helmet by Ali.