Connell And O'Brien Lead Irish Rout Of USA

Connell And O'Brien Lead Irish Rout Of USA

Niall O'Brien (right) holds the pose after hitting a six during his half-century.

©International Cricket Council

Connell And O'Brien Lead Irish Rout Of USA

Trent Johnston (right) and Niall O'Brien played their parts in a crushing win for Ireland.

©International Cricket Council

Ireland 202-4 (N O'Brien 84, Cusack 46) beat
USA 124-6 (Connell 4-14) by 78 runs
ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier Group B, Abu Dhabi
Scorecard

Ireland posted a national record 202 for four on their way to a crushing 78-run win over the United States of America on day two of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Abu Dhabi.

Niall O'Brien hammered 84 in 50 balls as Ireland piled on the runs and Peter Connell returned four for 14 as USA never looked like repeating their opening day success over Scotland, closing on 124 for six in reply to Ireland's score.

O'Brien, opening the innings alongside William Porterfield, who himself blasted 45 in 28 deliveries, smashed ten fours and two sixes during his knock, which saw him add 83 with Porterfield for the first wicket and 89 with Alex Cusack (46) for the second wicket.

Cusack faced just 30 balls and Trent Johnston gave the inning a final flourish, pushing Ireland past the 200-mark for the first time, with an unbeaten 12 in seven balls.

Johnston, along with fellow opening bowler Connell, then tore into the USA batsmen, to reduce them to 25 for six in the seventh over.

Connell dismissed Carl Wright (2), Rashard Marshall (0), Lennox Cush (2) and Timroy Allen (6) while Johnston accounted for Sudesh Dhaniram (0) and captain Steve Massiah (0).

USA mounted something of a recovery, an excellent unbeaten 72 in 67 balls from Aditya Thyagarajan and 28 not out from Orlando Baker adding some respectability to the USA score. The pair put on an unbeaten 99 for the seventh wicket but were unable to do anything about Ireland pulling off a comprehensive win.

© Cricket World 2010

Breaking news, score updates and interviews on Cricket World Live - tune in from Monday to Friday, 11:00 - 17:00 GMT and, get the latest from Cricket World® with Facebook, twitter and YouTube and keep up with the action with the latest cricket TV highlights and interviews.