Ireland book place in the semi-finals of the Desert T20 Challenge

Ireland surged into the semi-finals of the Desert T20 Challenge, alongside Scotland, with a 25-run victory over hosts United Arab Emirates in Dubai.

William Porterfield's team posted 160 for six, after he won the toss, thanks largely to big-hitting Kevin O'Brien's 40 from 27 balls and his fourth-wicket stand of 53 with Gary Wilson.

T20i best 3-16 from @boydrankin helps @Irelandcricket beat @EmiratesCricket in Desert T20 pic.twitter.com/4q7m0SHGqC

— PCA (@PCA) January 18, 2017

Tall seamer Boyd Rankin (three for 16) then made short work of UAE's top order, seeing off Rohan Mustafa lbw first ball and later putting himself on a hat-trick with the wickets of Ghulam Shabber and Rameez Shahzad for another golden duck.

R.Shahzad's falls for a duck in the 3rd to @Irelandcricket's Rankin #DesertT20 pic.twitter.com/oA8cu8SgWN

— Desert T20 Cricket (@Desert_T20) January 18, 2017

By then, UAE had faltered to 15 for four in the third over.

Number seven Amjad Javed (47no) led a recovery in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 58 with Mohammad Naveed, after the top five had all been dismissed for single figures. But UAE never threatened a successful chase and finished on 135 for seven.

Scotland had already booked their place in the last four, with a match to spare, when they beat Holland by seven runs in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Both semi-finals and the final will be played in Dubai on Friday.