Kevin O'Brien leads Ireland to title

Ireland overcame setbacks at the start of each innings to ensure they were not upset by Scotland in the final of a tournament they have dominated. Having entered the summit clash of the ICC WCL Division 1 tournament with five consecutive group-stage wins, Ireland had to regain ground lost to Scotland's openers, and they did by restricting the total to 233. Their batsmen then had to recover from a top-order wobble and they did, reaching the target in the 45th over.

Scotland rued the waste of the terrific opening stand between Fraser Watts and Preston Mommsen. They scored half-centuries and had added 141 by the 31st over but eight out of the nine other batsmen were dismissed in single digits during a dramatic collapse. Scotland lost ten wickets for 91 runs and let Ireland back in the game, following which a 160-run partnership - the highest of the tournament - between Kevin O'Brien, who later picked up his third Man-of-the-Match award of the tournament, and Andrew White during the chase ended the contest.

Watts and Mommsen chose the bowlers they wanted to attack, playing Trent Johnston with caution but going after most of the others. They scored briskly, setting up a launch pad for their team-mates, before Mommsen edged O'Brien to the keeper, who grabbed it on the second attempt. In the 33rd over, Scotland suffered a double blow: Omer Hussain was squared up by O'Brien and edged behind, while Richie Berrington was run out for a duck. Scotland were 145 for 3.

Johnston and left-arm spinner George Dockrell ripped out Scotland's middle order, taking two wickets apiece to reduce the innings from 163 for 3 to 169 for 7. There was some resistance from Watts and Gordon Drummond, who made 30 off 26 balls, the the advantage had been ceded. Watts holed out to long on in the penultimate over and fell two short of a century and the innings ended the next ball, when Gordon Goudie was bowled by Jones, leaving seven deliveries unused.

Scotland's stock rose during the chase when three wickets fell for 14 runs to leave Ireland rocking on 51 for 3. O'Brien, however, took the fight to his opponents by pulling his second ball, from Berrington, over the square-leg boundary. He hit another six over square leg later in his innings and a third into the trees beyond cow corner. He and White steadied the innings and did not allow any pressure to build by finding the boundary regularly. White hit four fours in the space of 11 balls during his innings before eventually falling for 79, with Ireland needing only 22 for victory.

As Ireland approached Victory, O'Brien approached his century. However, with nine runs needed, John Mooney swung Matthew Parker over his head for six, leaving O'Brien on 96 with the strike at the start of the 47th over with only three runs needed. He took, a single, Mooney took another and, with only one to get, O'Brien took a single down the ground to finish on 98.