A record-breaking opening partnership of 205 runs from Paul Stirling and captain Will Porterfield have helped Ireland defeat the United Arab Emirates, a victory which seals their place into the Super Six stage of the ICC World Cup qualifying tournament.
The duo ran up the 205 off just 34.1 overs as Ireland posted a total of 313 runs for 6 wickets in 44-overs in their rain affected innings.
Man of the match Stirling notched his seventh One Day International - getting 126 runs, with his half-century coming off just 41 balls.
Porterfield finished with 92 runs with Kevin O'Brien not out on 50.
Boyd Rankin took a career-best four wickets for 15 runs as the UAE were bowled out for just 91 runs.
Barry McCarthy took two wickets with Simi Singh recording figure for 3 for 15 in his six overs with the ball.
Ireland now progress to the second stage of the tournament, where they will play Zimbabwe, Scotland and Afghanistan over the next two weeks.
Stirling says it was important to bounce back from Saturday's defeat to the West Indies.
“It's nice to come back from that West Indies loss and put in a good team performance today. We knew coming into today we needed, I think, four wins from four to get through hopefully. So that is still on track, but still three to go.
“I felt in good nick, it was good to go on and get a big score. I've worked pretty hard, so I'm happy I've been able to put in a match winning performance for the team today.”
Asked about his teammate, Boyd Rankin, Stirling said:
“Boyd makes a massive difference for us. I think it's because he usually comes on after the power play. From an opening batters point of view it can be tricky having seen out the first ten overs but then you come up against someone like Boyd bouncing in at 6'7" with four men back. He's a real asset for us.”
- Ireland 313-6 (44 overs; P Stirling 126, W Porterfield 92, K O’Brien 50*; M Naveed 3-82)
- UAE 91 all out (29.3 overs; G Shabber 19; B Rankin 4-15, S Singh 3-15, B McCarthy 2-26)
Ireland won by 226 runs (DLS method)
