Irish hopes hit hard by shock defeat to Afghanistan

IRELAND were dealt a massive blow to their hopes of making progress into the ICC World Twenty20 finals as they lost their opening qualifier against Afghanistan.

The Afghans continued their recent dominance over the Irish by clinching a 12-run win in Dubai. The Irish restricted Afghanistan to 138-9, but after a decent start Phil Simmons' side collapsed to 126 all out.

William Porterfield (35) and Paul Stirling (21) had Ireland 52-1 after 6.3 overs before the wheels came off. Only Trent Johnston (18) and Alex Cusack also managed to make it into double figures, while Ireland lost their last three wickets within four deliveries. Captain Porterfield acknowledged that the Irish batting performance had not "been good enough", while they also dropped six catches in the field.

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"It is disappointing if you can't chase seven runs an over and are bowled out in 20 overs," said Porterfield. "The equation for us is pretty simple and straight now. We need to win the remaining two matches to progress."

The Irish, who played in last year's World Twenty20 in England, play the USA and Scotland in their remaining opening group games. Afghanistan, a rising cricketing force among the ICC's associate members, defeated Ireland in last year's World Cup qualifiers, even though the Irish went on to win that tournament. The two finalists will qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 proper in April and May, in the West Indies – the scene of Irish cricket's finest hour in 2007 as they qualified for the Super Eight phase of the World Cup.

In yesterday's other qualifying match, the Netherlands defeated Canada by six wickets in Dubai.