Dillon Heyliger and Jeremy Gordon took advantage of the conditions on view at the Nassau County International Stadium in New York to pick up four wickets between them, while Nicholas Kirton (49 runs) and Shreyas Movva (37 runs) made significant contributions with the willow as Canada beat Ireland by 12 runs to win their first game of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Ireland managed 125 in pursuit of 138.
Canada, who were asked to bat, made a modest start, losing their first four wickets for just 53 runs. The duo of Movva and Kirton then resurrected the innings with a stand of 75 in just over 10 overs. It was Kirton, who upped the ante by cracking two sixes and a boundary in a single over off Craig Young. The seamer didn’t help his cause by bowling a fuller length on a track that had its share of indentations.
Eventually, Barry McCarthy prised Kirton out in the 19th over, but by then the pair had done enough damage. McCarthy, who mostly bowled short-of-a-length deliveries, was the best bowler on show for the European country, bagging two wickets for the cost of 24 runs. Young and Adair also made a few inroads. On the other hand, Josh Little finished with modest figures of none for 37. In conditions, where 120 seems like a competitive score, Little’s returns didn’t help Ireland’s cause.
In the chase, Ireland lost wickets at regular intervals and found themselves precariously placed at 59 for 6. Heyliger, in particular, was a threat to all the batters. The tall bowler banged the ball hard into the pitch to extract variable bounce and took 2/18 from his four overs. Gordon, too, found the conditions to his liking and finished with 2/16. In fact, Gordon gave away a mere four runs in the last over to seal the deal.
Meanwhile, George Dockrell and Mark Adair strung together a partnership of 62 for the seventh wicket but they had too much to do. Dockrell finished unbeaten on 30 off 23 balls while Adair top-scored for his team with 34 off 24 deliveries and was dismissed in the final over of the game.