Ireland Bounce Back, Canada, Italy, Hong Kong Also Win

Ireland Bounce Back, Canada, Italy, Hong Kong Also Win

William Porterfield smashed an unbeaten half-century as Ireland hammered Kenya by ten wickets

©ICC / Barry Chambers

Ireland Bounce Back, Canada, Italy, Hong Kong Also Win

Papua New Guinea came so close to scoring an upset win over Canada before their more experienced couterparts prevailed by six runs

©ICC / Thusith Wijedoru

There were wins for Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland and Italy in the early games on day two of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates.

GROUP A

The first upset of the day came as Hong Kong turned over Bermuda by eight wickets. Bermuda's 161 for five was built around captain David Hemp's 43 and Janeiro Tucker's 31 not out in 19 balls but Hong Kong, overhauled their target with 15 balls to spare. Opener Irfan Ahmed blasted 50 in 37 balls and captain Jamie Atkinson struck an impressive 87 not out in 55 balls, with 13 fours and two sixes. The pair added 113 together in a match-winning second-wicket stand.

Canada were pushed extremely hard by Papua New Guinea before holding on to win by six runs. Nitish Kumar had struck 57 in 44 balls and Hiral Patel 34 in 25 to set up a good score of 167 for five but it only just proved enough. Opener Asad Vala (52), Geraint Jones (39) and Mahuru Dai (30 not out) almost pulled off a massive shock before closing on 161 for three in reply.

Afghanistan play the Netherlands and Denmark meet Nepal in the day's other clashes.

GROUP B

Ireland produced the perfect response to their opening-day loss to Namibia by thrashing Kenya by ten wickets. A haul of three for 20 from Boyd Rankin as well as two wickets apiece for Alex Cusack, John Mooney and George Dockrell effectively ended the contest by dismissing Kenya for just 71. Captain and opening batsman William Porterfield then delivered a virtuoso performance, ending on 56 not out in 27 balls as Ireland raced home in just 7.2 overs.

Italy made it two wins in two by beating the United States of America by eight runs. After being reduced to 70 for five, they were indebted to Carl Sandri's unbeaten 49 to haul them up to a score of 137 for five. Excellent bowling then restricted USA to 129 for eight in reply. Leading the way for Italy was Damian Crowley, who picked up three for 20.

The later games see Namibia play Scotland and Oman taking on Uganda.

© Cricket World 2012