Pakistan 8-230 (Kamran Akmal 81, Wahab Riaz 47*, Shoaib Malik 43, Trent Johnston 2-35) beat Ireland 9-229 (Ed Joyce 116*, Kevin O’Brien 38, Abdur Rehman 4-48) by two wickets.
A brave batting by Kamran Akmal assisted by two match winning partnerships with Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz led the Pakistani team to a victory vs. Ireland.
Ireland scored 229 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the allotted 50 overs and Pakistan powered 230 with two wickets remaining in 48.4 overs.
Kamran Akmal (Pakistan) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his masterly knock of 81 runs.
The second and final One Day International was played on Sunday, May 26, 2013, at Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin.
Misbah-ul-Haq, the captain of Pakistan, won the toss and put the home side in to bat first. The decision paid off instantly when they got rid of the two openers within the first four overs at just four runs. The skipper of Ireland, William Porterfield, scored just one run and the centurion of the first ODI, Paul Stirling, was gone without opening his account. Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien put down their heads for consolidation as the first got 10 runs in the fifth over with 2 fours. They were unable to score freely in the coming overs and got 26 runs at the end of the 13th over. They took the score to 69 in 20.6 overs when Niall O’Brien was caught behind by Kamran Akmal off Wahab Riaz for 29.
Ed Joyce secured his end as the fourth wicket went down at 84 when Kevin O’Brien took guards at the crease. Joyce attained his fifty in the 31st over as O’Brien hit 2 boundaries four overs later. The first was dropped at 61 by Mohammad Hafeez off Asad Ali in the next over and the batsmen added 20 runs in the 37th one with 4 fours. Kevin O’Brien was caught by Nasir Jamshed at deep midwicket off Abdur Rehman for 38 off 48 with 5 fours. The Green Shirts Bowlers came back strongly by playing with the late order batting as Ed Joyce thrashed his second ODI hundred with a big six. He remained unbeaten for 116 off 132 balls with 1 six and 12 fours as Ireland reached 9-229 after 50 overs.
Abdur Rehman was the main wicket taker with four, Junaid Khan held two whereas Asad Ali, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez shared one wicket each.
Pakistan went for the chase in a timid manner as their openers Imrat Farhat and Nasir Jamshed scored just 8 runs in the first five overs. The first was gone in the next over for 5 as Tim Murtagh removed Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Hafeez in the seventh over for 0 and 2 runs. The poor batting continued when Asad Shafiq was caught by Kevin O’Brien off Trent Johnston for just four and the Green Shirts were in deep trouble at 4-17 in 9.2 overs.
The seasoned Shoaib Malik got together with Misbah-ul Haq and tried to stabilise the damaged innings. They kept the score board ticking with odd boundaries and reached 60 after 20.5 overs when Misbah-ul-Haq was caught and bowled by Alex Cusack for 24 off 46 with 4 fours. Kamran Akmal got in next as Shoaib Malik hit two back to back fours in the 24th over and kept the chase on for the tourists. The hundred of the innings appeared in the 31st over and Shoaib Malik was held lbw off George Dockrell for 43 from 58 with 6 fours. The green Shirts were 7-133 in 37 overs as Wahab Riaz associated with Kamran Akmal who attained his 10th ODI fifty in the 41st over with 2 fours.
The chase was kept alive by Kamran Akmal who added 2 big sixes and 1 four in the coming overs as Wahab Riaz responded well by hitting 1 six and 2 fours in the 45th over. The latter punished Murtagh for 24 runs in the 47th over with 3 huge sixes and 1 four and accumulated 93 runs for the 8th wicket in 62 balls. Kamran Akmal was caught by Porterfield off Kevin O’Brien for 81 from 85 with 2 sixes and 11 fours. Junaid Khan hit the winning two runs on the fourth ball of the 49th over , Wahab Riaz secured his end for 47 off 35 comprising 4 giant sixes and even fours as Pakistan hammered 8-230.
Tim Murtagh, Trent Johnston and Alex Cusack were the main wicket takers with two wickets each whereas Kevin O’Brien and George Dockrell claimed one wicket each.
Pakistan won the interesting battle with a close margin of two wickets and clinched the two match series 1-0.
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