Canada and Ireland met again in the second one-day international of the series, with Canada leading 1-0. Ireland posted a daunting total of 325/8, thanks to a brilliant and record-breaking 177 from Paul Stirling. Bagai and Gunasekera again batted well in reply, putting on 79, but the target was always out of reach and wickets fell as the run rate climbed. Van der Merwe took five wickets, as the innings wound down and Canada eventually fell 92 runs short.
Canada won the toss and asked Ireland to bat. Osinde and Cheema were out of the squad, with Kumar and Bhatti replacing them. Stirling got off to a rapid start, at one point hitting Khurram Chohan for 6, 4, 4 from consecutive balls. He survived a chance when on 14, and made Canada pay dearly for their generosity. He reached his fifty from 37 balls, and with Botha (28) put on 91 in 12.5 overs. Botha’s wicket (c & b Desai) resulted in the run-rate slowing, at least for the next few overs. However Stirling was in imperious form, and reached his century from 97 balls. After passing his hundred he accelerated, and looked set for a double hundred before he finally was caught off a full toss for 177 in 134 balls, with 21 fours and five sixes. Ireland at that point had 281 on the board. Wickets fell as the Irish hit out in the final overs, with the 300 going up with two overs to bowl. The final total of 325 made Canada’s task challenging to say the least, and the Irish were on track to level the series. Stirling’s innings was the highest for Ireland in a one-day international, as is their final total.
Canada needed an aggressive start, and Patel tried to lead the way. He hit two boundaries from the second over, but then hit his 10th ball to deep mid-wicket for an easy catch. Kumar was caught at point with the score on 34, bringing together yesterday’s heroes, Bagai and Gunasekera who again batted well. They put on 79, with Gunasekera scoring 59 from 62 balls – he was bowled trying to pull a straight one. Surkari tried to hit out right away, only to hole out at mid-wicket, and with half the overs gone the required run rate was up over 8/over. Bagai tried to push on and was caught at point for 44 from 52 balls. Balaji Rao hit out, and struck a big six, but the run rate required was now over 10, with half the wickets gone. Rao, batting with a runner was run out for 24 from 16 balls, then Hansra and Chohan were dismissed in quick succession giving Van der Merwe his fourth and fifth wickets. Canada were all out 233 in the 47th over.
CricInfo scorecard – CricketEurope coverage