Young & O'Brien Star As Ireland Beat Scotland By 7 Wickets

Craig Young took five wickets on his One-Day international debut as Ireland crushed an out of sorts Scotland by seven wickets at Malahide in the first game of their three match series.

The Bready paceman claimed 5 for 46 as Scotland were dismissed for just 172 in 40.3 overs.

Young, Max Sorensen (2-28), and Andy McBrine (2-36) all impressed on a pitch which offered the bowlers assistance throughout.

Calum MacLeod (25) and Freddie Coleman (23) both got starts, but at 101 for 7 Scotland were in real danger of being totally humiliated.

Michael Leask scored a belligerent run a ball 50 (7 fours, 1 six) sharing a 54 run stand for the 8th wicket with Safyaan Sharif (18), but it was in truth too little, too late.

Ireland lost John Anderson early, trapped lbw by Iain Wardlaw, but Andrew Balbirnie's patient 38 saw him add partnerships of 39 with Andrew Poynter (16), and 43 with Kevin O'Brien as Ireland adopted a safety first approach.

O'Brien and Stuart Thompson upped the scoring rate as they added an unbroken 80 in 71 balls to speed to the seven wicket win with 13.2 overs remaining.

O'Brien's unbeaten 56 (7 fours, 1 six) saw him pass the 2000 run milestone in ODI's, while Thompson impressed with some lovely fluent drives in his undefeated 35.

The teams meet again at the same venue on Wednesday, when Ireland can expect a much stiffer challenge from Scotland who will be keen to bounce back after their comprehensive defeat.

At Malahide,

Scotland 172 all out (40.3 overs, M Leask 50, C MacLeod 25, F Coleman 23, C Young 5-46, M Sorensen 2-28, A McBrine 2-36)

Ireland 173-3 (36.4 overs, K O'Brien 56*, A Balbirnie 38, S Thompson 35*)
Ireland won by 7 wickets