ICC/CricketEurope

Ireland captain William Porterfield returned from his county commitments with Gloucestershire to score  a battling 58 to lead Ireland to a 5 wicket win over Denmark at Rathmines.

This was a far from convincing display by the Irish, who have yet to play anywhere their full potential in the competition so far. Porterfield anchored the innings, taking 111 balls for his 58, hitting 8 boundaries. His dismissal came with the win all but secured,  uncharacteristically taking a charge in Bobby Chawla's first over.

He and Gary Wilson (32) shared an opening stand of 77 in 16.2 overs, nullifying the Danish opening attack, scoring boundaries at regular intervals, combined with superb running between the wickets.

The introduction of Lars Hedergaard saw Wilson trapped lbw, and just two balls later, Paul Stirling suffered the same fate, and Denmark saw a glimmer of hope. That glimmer increased when Andre Botha edged Michael Pedersen to slip, via the gloves of Freddie Klokker.

Porterfield and Andrew White (30) dug in, and added 38 in 14.3 overs, to take Ireland nearer to the win. Pretty it certainly wasn't, but credit to Hedegaard  (2-25 from 10), and Pedersen (1-33 from 10), who kept things tight, helped by an athletic fielding performance.

White was well caught down the leg side by Klokker standing up, but there were no further alarms for the Irish. Reinhardt Strydom (21*) and Kevin O'Brien (12*) seeing them home with 4.1 overs to spare.

Earlier in the day, Freddie Klokker of Derbyshire held the Danish innings together with a superb 85 from 126 balls. The elegant left hander played some exquisite drives, cuts and pulls, striking 11 boundaries as Denmark scored 179 for 9 in their 50 overs.

He dominated to such an extent, that until numnber 9 Morten Hedegaard scored 21 not out, no other batsman reached double figures, and Ernie Extras with 22 was the second top score.

Once again Kyle McCallan (3-32) was the most successful of the Irish  bowlers, while Andre Botha (2-36) and Kevin O'Brien (2-33) picked up two wickets each.

Ireland's next game now is on Monday against The Netherlands at Clontarf starting at 10:45am.