Irish face huge battle to reach Inter Continental Cup

Scotland skipper Craig Wright threw the gauntlet down to his batsmen after they seized control to set up a thrilling finale in their Inter Continental Cup qualifier against Ireland in Clontarf.

Wright’s side look poised to upset the odds and hijack Ireland’s bid for a place in the finals after batsmen Dougie Lockhart and Fraser Watts notched up a 90-run unbroken partnership by stumps on day two.

The pair will resume tomorrow morning needing just another 87 runs to clinch their place in the finals in the UAE in November – and deal a fatal blow to Ireland’s qualifying bid.

Wright said: “We have found ourselves in good positions with the bat on many occasions and we haven’t been able to see it through.

“It’s really important Dougie and Fraser try and bat through to the close of play without leaving it to the boys lower down the order.

“It’s up to us – we’ve got ourselves into a good position and now we’ve got to make the most of it. We’ve had a good day today and the wicket has probably played a bit better than yesterday.

“We bowled pretty well to get them out for 170-odd and we’ve made a pretty good start to the chase, losing only two wickets so far.”

Scotland started the day 60 runs short of the Irish total with four first-innings wickets still in hand.

They quickly lost danger man Ryan Watson as well as Asim Butt, who was sent on his way after a smart return catch by Naseer Shoukat.

Paul Hoffman and Simon Smith followed shortly afterwards to leave the Scots 26 runs behind on first innings. Shoukat was the pick of the attack, finishing with five for 60 off a menacing 19 overs.

The Scots forced their way back into contention when veteran seamer Butt removed both Jeremy Bray and Andre Botha with the score on six – only to see Irish skipper Jason Molins and all-rounder Andrew White stop the rot.

Molins was eventually dismissed for a quick-fire 31 when Butt rattled his middle stump after turning him inside out with a wicked delivery.

Scotland skipper Wright chipped in with the middle order wickets of Peter Gillespie and Eoin Morgan, returning in place of the recently-married Kyle McCallan.

Both were caught behind by Smith after being tied down by Wright’s nagging line and length, to leave the hosts in trouble on 89 for five and the game back on a knife-edge.

Andrew White and Australian-born Trent Johnston were the stars of the Irish innings, notching up 67 and 47 respectively to keep the hosts ticking over – but the tail had little to offer.

The Irish were eventually dismissed for 178, with opening bowler Paul Hoffman returning to claim the late wickets of Paul Mooney and Steve Ogilby.

Butt was the pick of the attack, finishing on five for 47 before opening the batting as Scotland were set a testing target of 205.

Butt outed to Andre Botha for 18 just as he was finding his feet, with opening partner Bruce Patterson falling to Johnston for just nine – before Watts and Lockhart steadied the ship.

Wright added: “It’s moved around less today off the wicket. There’s still a bit of swing about but there’s better batting conditions than there were yesterday so we are all hoping we can see it through.

“We’ve put ourselves in a great position, hopefully we can bat with a bit of discipline in the first hour or so and see it through.”