The Indian summer made Malahide a wonderful place to be in the early evening sun of a September day as Ireland went two-nil up against Scotland to secure a series victory ahead of Friday’s final encounter at the ground.
And the healthy crowd certainly got a better contest than Monday’s seven-wicket waltz as Ireland chased down a target of 223 in the 45th over to win by three wickets.
Skipper Kevin O’Brien made a second half-century of the series, but his departure for 67 in the 32nd over saw Ireland wobble somewhat with Stuart Poynter running himself out for eight and Stuart Thompson going after an entertaining 39 from 36 balls. When Andrew White was trapped leg-before four balls later, Ireland were 186 for seven and Scotland sniffed the chance of squaring the series.
So many times a closer for Ireland, John Mooney (27 not out) settled the ship on his first time at the wicket since January after time off for a stress-related condition, guiding Ireland home alongside Max Sorensen (14 not out) as Ireland won with 34 balls to spare.
Scotland had earlier clawed their way back from a disastrous start as Richie Berrington’s maiden ODI century helped them make 221 after they had been reduced to 48 for five.
Ireland's new-ball pairing of Sorensen and Craig Young did the damage, with Sorensen recording his best ODI figures of four for 40, while Young impressed again after his five-wicket haul on his ODI debut on Monday with figures of three for 39 in his 10 overs.
After passing his previous ODI best of 84, Berrington went on to make his century in the final over and finished unbeaten on 101 when Iain Wardlaw was run out off the penultimate ball of the innings.
Meanwhile, South Africa completed a clean sweep of victories in the Twenty20 series against Ireland at Solihull near Birmingham when they won the third game by six wickets.
Ireland skipper Isobel Joyce made 45 from 48 balls in a total of 109 for eight, but South Africa chased it down for the loss of four wickets.
The Joyce family honours, though, went to older brother Ed, who hit 137 in Sussex’s County Championship clash against Lancashire at Hove. The knock saw the Irish international go past 1,000 runs in Division One this season and 15,000 first-class runs in his career.
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL
(at Malahide): Ireland won the toss and fielded.
SCOTLAND
M Cross lbw b Sorensen 4
C MacLeod b Young 4
H Gardiner c S Poynter b Sorensen 13
P Mommsen b Sorensen 3
R Berrington not out 101
F Coleman c S Poynter b Sorensen 7
J Davey c Thompson b Young 40
M Leask c A Poynter b O’Brien 10
M Haq c S Poynter b Young 7
A Evans c Young b Mooney 22
I Wardlaw run out 0
Extras (lb5, w5) 10
Total (all out, 49.5 ovs) 221
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-8, 3-11, 4-40, 5-48, 6-132, 7-155, 8-170, 9-218.
Bowling: M Sorensen 10-2-40-2; C Young 10-1-39-3; J Mooney 8.5-1-36-1; A McBrine 9-0-48-0; K O'Brien 7-0-32-1; S Thompson 3-0-16-0; J Anderson 2-0-5-0.
IRELAND
A Balbirnie c Cross b Davey 16
J Anderson c Cross b Davey 12
A Poynter c Gardiner b Berrington 21
K O’Brien c Cross b Evans 67
S Thompson lbw b Leask 39
S Poynter run out 8
J Mooney not out 27
A White lbw b Evans 1
M Sorensen not out 14
Extras (b4, lb3, nb3, w10) 20
Total (for 7 wkts, 44.2 ovs) 225
Did not bat:A McBrine, C Young.
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-35, 3-103, 4-157, 5-171, 6-185, 7-186.
Bowling: J Davey 9.2-0-44-2; I Wardlaw 6-0-36-0; A Evans 10-1-34-2; C MacLeod 1-0-8-0; M Leask 5-0-26-1; M Haq 10-0-51-0; R Berrington 3-0-19-1.
Ireland won by 3 wkts and three-match series 2-0.
WOMEN’S T20 INTERNATIONAL
(at Moseley CC, Solihull): Ireland 109-8 (20 ovs) (I Joyce 45, K Garth 15; C Tryon 2-14, S Ismail 2-20, A Khaka 2-22), South Africa 111-4 (18.5 ovs) (M Du Preez 37, A Steyn 35, M Kapp 19no). South Africa won by 6 wkts.
