IRELAND kept alive their hopes at the inaugural Desert T20 tournament as they beat Namibia by five wickets in a close contest in Abu Dhabi.
Chasing Namibia’s 146-9, the Irish sneaked home with two balls to spare, helped by Gary Wilson’s unbeaten 38 and two late Andy McBrine boundaries.
Earlier, Louis van der Westhuizen struck 50 for the Namibians with fellow opener Stephan Baard contributing 32.

They put on 81 for the first wicket in 8.4 overs as a big total looked likely.
However, after van der Westhuizen’s departure, the Namibian innings lost momentum as O’Brien, Joshua Little, Craig Young and Jacob Mulder all took two wickets.
Stuart Poynter also hit 38 for Ireland with Kevin O’Brien notching 22.
After the departures of Paul Stirling and skipper William Porterfield left the Irish on 25-2 after 3.4 overs, Poynter and O’Brien put on 48 for the third wicket before they were out in quick succession to leave the innings on 83-4.

At that stage, Ireland looked to be running out of batsmen but Wilson and Greg Thompson produced a crucial 45 partnership before McBrine’s two boundaries in the final over helped guide the Irish to victory.
After losing their opener against Afghanistan on Saturday, the Irish needed a victory to get their qualification hopes back on track.
Victory against hosts United Arab Emirates, in Dubai tomorrow will guarantee the Irish a place in the semi-finals on Friday, with the final also taking place on the same day.

(BBC Sport)