Johnston and Rankin star as UAE collapse

A comprehensive win for ICC Intercontinental Cup defending champions Ireland over the United Arab Emirates has put Adrian Birrell's side into the final but it was the manner in which they completed their task with a day to spare at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium that was most impressive.

Trent Johnston, a man whose bowling was an area of concern in the recent one-day ICC World Cricket League Division 1 in Nairobi, turned it on in style yesterday in the longer version of the game. With the Emirates on the back foot, Johnston bowled eight fine overs yesterday morning and ended with figures of 3-8.

Johnston was ably assisted by off-spinner Kyle McCallan and Boyd Rankin, whose 4-56 cleared up the tail and ensured that Ireland registered a fine victory by an innings and 170 runs.

And all that on a dead flat track that was a dream to bat on, illustrated by the fact that Ireland initially put on 531 for 5 declared on the first day and a half of this game.

Ireland had needed the outright victory in this four-day match in order to get through to the final, which will most likely be played at a neutral venue in May against the winners of the other section, Canada.

Considering the torment they went through in Kenya, losing four of their five matches after each one went down to the wire, it was a big effort for the team to pick themselves up and put in a performance of this quality against a UAE team, let us not forget, that almost beat Scotland in the same competition last month.

This will be remembered for Ireland's bowling, taking 20 UAE wickets in little more than a day's play, it will be remembered also for some fine fielding and well-held catches but when the sand finally settles on this great desert victory, it will be the record 360-run partnership between Eoin Morgan and Andre Botha that will live longest in the memory.

If the bowlers engineered the victory, it was the two left-handed batsmen who were the architects behind it, smashing the opposition into submission on the first day and a half and putting the Emirates in trouble from the start. Morgan's 209 not out is the highest ever score by an Ireland batsman while Botha now joins the exclusive club of those who have passed 150 in Ireland colours. Their partnership is the largest in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

After taking nine first-innings wickets on day two, it did not take long before the tenth and final one was snapped up yesterday morning and, as expected, Johnston enforced the follow-on and invited Arshad Ali and his men to bat again.

The second innings took less time than the first to complete with the UAE already looking like beaten men. It took just 48 overs for the ruthless Ireland attack to finish the game and now they have a final to look forward to later in the year.

It is a welcome psychological boost as they make their final preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup and notwithstanding two warm-ups games against Canada and South Africa in Trinidad this is their last competitive match before they take on Zimbabwe in Sabina Park, Jamaica on 15 March.