Abu Dhabi - Ireland set up a third successive final date with Afghanistan in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier after defeating hosts United Arab Emirates by 62 runs in the second semi-final at the Zayed Cricket Stadium here.
The defending champion overcame the loss of three wickets inside six overs to post a respectable 147/8 before Max Sorensen and Tim Murtagh shared eight wickets equally between them to bowl out UAE for 85 with 2.2 overs to spare Friday.
In the first semi-final, Samiullah Shenwari claimed 3/19 and scored 24 not out as Afghanistan defeated Nepal by eight wickets.
The Ireland-Afghanistan match Saturday is the third successive title game between the two sides. Afghanistan won the 2010 final while Ireland made it 1-1 after winning the 2012 final.
Sorensen and Murtagh claimed four wickets apiece to ensure Ireland continued its record of reaching the final of every World T20 Qualifier.
Earlier, they made a shaky start when they slipped to 36/3. However, a 55-run partnership between John Mooney (29) and Trent Johnston (35) lifted Ireland.
“It is great to be through to finals for the fourth straight time. It was the goal we set for ourselves before we left from Ireland; to get to the final and not only get to it but try and win it,” Ireland captain William Porterfield said.
“We will be up against Afghanistan with whom we have played a couple of keenly contested finals. We have played some great games. They are a great team in this format and we have shown we can do well as well. So looking forward to it.”
In other matches, Netherlands defeated Hong Kong by seven wickets to finish fifth while Scotland beat Papua New Guinea by five wickets to grab seventh.
The two losing semi-finalists UAE and Nepal will play the third place play-off.
Brief scores:
PNG 143/5 in 20 overs (Jack Vare 35 not out, Tony Ura 27, Geraint Jones 25; Majid Haq 3/25, Neil Carter 2/19) lost to Scotland 146/5 in 20 overs (Richie Berrington 70 not out, Kyle Coetzer 35; Norman Vanua 2/25, Andrew Hicks 2/26).
Nepal 90/8 in 20 overs (Sharad Vesawkar 27 not out; Samiullah Shenwari 3/19, Dawlat Zadran 2/19, Izatullah Dawlatzai 2/22) lost to Afghanistan 96/3 in 14.2 overs (Nawroz Mangal 48, Samiullah Shenwari 24 not out; Avinash Karn 2/17).
Hong Kong 121/7 in 20 overs (Babar Hayat 46, Waqas Barkat 24; Vivian Kingma 3/22, Ahsan Malik 2/15) lost to Netherlands 124/3 in 18.4 overs (Ben Cooper 42, Stephan Myburgh 30, Tim Gruijters 26 not out; Nizakat Khan 3/10).
Ireland 147/8 in 20 overs (Trent Johnston 35, Kevin O’Brien 31, John Mooney 29; Manjula Guruge 3/21, Rohan Mustafa 2/23) beat UAE 85 all out in 17.4 overs (Max Sorensen 4/15, Tim Murtagh 4/24).
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