SCOTLAND were never going to have it all their own way in this T20 World Cup first-round group and this was a chastening reminder of what full member nations are capable of when they get into their stride.
Shane Burger’s men looked to have one foot in the Super 12 phase with Ireland toiling halfway through their reply on 65/4 and the Scots seemingly on their way to a second victory off the back of Monday’s triumph over the West Indies.
Captain Richie Berrington had won the toss and elected to bat and that looked to be the correct decision as they made use of the bright Hobart conditions to rack up 176/5 off the back of Michael Jones’ maiden T20I half-century.
The drinks break proved pivotal, however, as Ireland completely turned things on its head in the second half of their innings as they bludgeoned their way to a stunning six-wicket victory.
Electing to take on Scottish seamers and spinners alike and running cleverly between the wickets, Curtis Campher and George Dockrell put on a 119-run partnership to take the game away from their Celtic cousins.
Against the West Indies the bowling had been economical and wickets had tumbled at regular intervals, but this time Scotland just couldn’t figure out a way to stop this Irish charge.
Campher, the South African-born all-rounder, was in particularly explosive form as he made 72 not out from just 32 balls having earlier taken a brace of wickets, with Dockrel keeping things steady at the other end to finish on 39 not out.
It was Ireland’s highest-ever successful run chase in T20 internationals and gives Scotland something to think about going into their final group fixture against Zimbabwe on Friday. That has become a match they will almost certainly have to win if they are to entertain any prospects of going through to the next phase.
“We know how tough these group stages are - we experienced it last year,” said Berrington. “We had to win all three games so we were never of the mindset that the job was done here at any point.
"It was pleasing we dominated a lot of the game. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get over the line today but we always knew it was going to come down to the last game, whether we won today or not. Our focus is on moving on from here and putting in a strong performance on Friday.”
Mark Watt had been one of the key bright spots in the win over the West Indies but even the left-armer was taken all around the ground here, his one wicket coming at a cost of 39 runs. None of the bowlers could keep it tight with Josh Davey’s 46 runs off his four overs particularly costly as Ireland cut loose, hitting boundary after boundary.
Berrington, diplomatically, chose not to criticise his bowlers, instead preferring to give praise to the Irish batters.
“There will be a couple of areas we'll look at where we didn't execute as well as we can,” he added. “But you have to give a lot of credit to George Dockrell and Curtis Campher for the partnership they put on. It was a match-winning partnership.”
For a while it looked like this was going to be Jones’ day. The Lancashire-born opening bat only made his T20I debut in July but stepped up when he was needed with Monday’s batting hero, George Munsey, falling for just 1 on this occasion.
Jones clattered six maximums – including one that landed on the stadium roof – on his way to compiling 86, batting well into the 19th over. Matt Cross (28) and Berrington (37) made solid contributions with the bat too to leave Scotland handily placed. That the total – their highest-ever at a T20 World Cup - ultimately didn’t prove enough was certainly not Jones’ fault.
“I thought Michael Jones was superb today, all the way through the innings, even the way he started off,” added Berrington. “There were a couple of guys who chipped in as well and we had a couple of good partnerships there.
“So we were pretty happy with the first innings score. We maybe missed out on a few towards the back end but we knew if we bowled well with that on the board we should give ourselves a good chance.
“I thought the boys at the start were excellent getting those early wickets. We certainly put Ireland under pressure early on. But you’ve got to give credit to Ireland there and the boys who put that partnership on. I thought it was a special knock from Curtis.
“We have to move on from this game. We'll learn what we can from it but we know in these group scenarios, it's never straight-forward. We'll reflect well on this and come back strong on Friday.”
