Since competitive limited overs matches against Scotland began in 1992 Ireland have seldom won. Now they have won two of the last three. The first of these wins was in the 2006 European Championship in Glasgow. The defeat was early in 2007 in the World League in Nairobi and now this second win in three matches came in the quadrangular tournament. In truth Scotland should have won this match. Ireland made 222. This was not a massive total. Scotland were 72-3 when their captain, Watson, was joined by McCallum. With some 30 overs left 151 runs were required at that point to win, a rate of five runs per over. With 20 overs left this pair were still together but the rate had now gone up to almost 6 runs per over. With 10 overs left the rate then needed was almost eight runs per over, still with seven wickets in hand. In these 30 overs Watson had hit no boundary while McCallum had hit a six and four fours.

McCallum was out at 167 in over 44. Watson followed in over 45 at 172. The last six Scottish batsmen totalled 21 runs between them and the last seven wickets fell for 32 runs in 38 balls. From the fall of the third wicket the whole Scottish tactical performance by their batsmen, particularly Watson and McCallum, was not easily explained.

Ireland fielded the team that played against West Indies in Dublin the previous day. The day was overcast to start and the start was early, at 10:15 a.m. The pitch was slow but Ireland opted to bat on winning the toss. Scotland had four changes from the team that won in Nairobi. Missing were Hamilton, Brown, Wright and Lyons. In came Drummond (medium-pace bowler), Rogers (a slow left-arm bowler) and batsmen Hussain and Poonia.

Porterfield and Morgan made a slow start against Blain and Hoffman. 18 runs came in eight overs and with only one four, to square-leg by Porterfield off Blain. Off the second ball of the ninth over, by Blain, Porterfield mishooked and a very high skier was caught at fine leg. 18-1-14. Botha came in needing 32 runs to be the 15th Irish player to reach 2000 runs. He did indeed achieve this making 42 runs in all in his 73rd match and 72nd innings. Within this match Botha also reached the 2000 runs/100 wicket double of which more later. Botha started quickly and had scored 9 in 12 balls. Drummond had replaced Blain for over 12. In the previous over Morgan hit his only four, to long-off from the bowling of Hoffman. Having scored 10 in 35 balls (a four and six singles) Morgan got out to Drummond's fourth ball. He had a dreadful wild swing to an off side ball and was bowled. 34-2-10. Niall O'Brien came in and was nearly bowled first ball. Haq, off spin, came on for Hoffman and Botha was dropped at slip in his first over. Botha, on the back foot, lobbed to Watson at slip who put it down. Botha was 20 and the score 45.

The 20 over score was 55. Then left arm Rogers came on and Haq changed ends. Here it has to be said that the pitch favoured spin bowling and Scotland had three whom they used to the end other than three overs bowled by Hoffman. Botha reached his 2000 runs in over 24 but got out three overs later. The halfway (25 overs) score was 77. Then Botha advanced to an off side ball from Haq, tried to swing it to leg, and was stumped. 80-3-42. K. O'Brien joined his brother and by 30 overs the score had reached 92. So, if wickets were kept intact, about 190 could be expected.

Watson, off spin around the wicket, replaced Haq for over 31. In his second over he dropped a caught and bowled chance from K. O'Brien who was six and the score 99. 100 came up in that 33rd over. "Nelson" gained another victim in over 35. K. O'Brien was bowled by Watson attempting a pull shot. 111-4-12. O'Brien had faced 26 balls for his eight singles and two twos. Cusack joined N.O'Brien who hit two fours off Hoffman who returned for three overs in place of Rogers. Only 41 runs were scored from overs 30 to 40. Then, in over 41, Cusack was run out. O'Brien rightly refused a run off his own shot. Cusack had backed up to far and was run out when square leg threw to bowler Watson. 136-5-10. Johnston arrived at last. When will he bat earlier in the order? He came in with a new record to his name. It was his 42nd match as captain, taking over from Jason Molins' 41.

Now the rate really accelerated and the sixth pair put on 57 runs in 40 balls. The bowlers were Watson, Rogers and Haq. 150 was up in over 43 in which O'Brien reverse swept a four and went to his 50, off 88 balls and with four fours. Then Johnston hit Rogers for six over long-off. Rogers changed ends and in over 47 O'Brien hit the first three balls for fours, to third man, a reverse sweep, and then to backward square leg. Haq bowled the 48th over and took two wickets and was hit for a six. O'Brien was bowled by the second ball which he missed and it hit his leg stump. 193-6-72. His innings in all lasted 101 balls and contained seven fours. O'Brien had played very well, and held the innings together. It was his 10th score of 50 or more in 46 innings. The next best score was Botha's 42. Langford-Smith took a single off his first ball. Johnston hit a six over long-off and was stumped next ball when well down the pitch. 200-7-32. His innings lasted 23 balls and contained two sixes.

Langford-Smith and Fourie conjured 22 from the last two overs. In the last over, bowled by Haq, Fourie reverse swept a four and, next ball, hit a six over long-on. 89 came in the last 10 overs and 55 in the last five. 222 was a good advance on a score of 133 after 40 overs. Scotland used six bowlers, three of them spinners. Those three bowled 29 overs for 154 runs and four wickets. The three faster bowlers bowled 21 overs for 56 runs and two wickets.

Watts and Poonia were Scotland's openers to Fourie and Langford-Smith for Ireland. In the latter's second over Watts hit a return catch which was held at the third attempt. 13-1-7. Watson settled in with Poonia and when 10 overs had been bowled the score was 45. Poonia had hit four fours and Watson three. Botha was on for over 11. The 12th over, bowled by Langford-Smith, his last, saw 50 up. K O'Brien was given two overs but Watson hit two fours in his second over and Johnston replaced him but not before Botha dismissed Poonia in his fourth over, the 17th. Poonia had been lucky in over 15 with a near catch to K O'Brien at extra cover. Now he missed a straight ball and was bowled to give Botha his 100 wicket in his 73rd match and 74th innings in which he had bowled. 66-2-23. The 2000 run/100 wicket double was now achieved by Botha. Only O'Riordan and McCallan had previously done this double and both had moved beyond the mark that Botha now reached.

Hussain came next and Botha went off with figures of 5-2-4-1 and only four of his 30 deliveries had been scored off. Kidd, slow left arm, replaced Botha and with his third ball took his first international wicket in his fourth match. He first played for Ireland in 2004 but had not played since his debut until this year. Hussain was out to a fast leg side stumping. 72-3-1.

Now began the long but slow stand between Watson and McCallum. They put on 95 runs in 22.4 overs. They each faced the same number of balls, 68, and McCallum scored 54 of the runs. McCallum started well with three fours in his first five overs. McCallan came on for Johnston (5-0-14-0) and 100 came up in his first over, 27th. The 30 over score was 106. So, 35 had come in the last 10 overs and 117 were needed in the last 20. The pair were running well and were good at stealing singles but the pace was not increasing to the level required. In over 31 Watson went to 50 in 82 balls. Cusack came on for Kidd at 113 for over 33. Then McCallum hit McCallan for a six over mid-wicket in the over 34. The 35 over score was 130, so now 93 were needed in 15 overs. In this 35th over McCallum was almost caught at mid-wicket by Langford-Smith who had the ball in both hands but could not hold it on the boundary edge. Only 15 runs were scored from over 35 to over 40, with only one four hit.

Now 78 were needed in 10 overs and, really, at that point Scotland appeared to have no chance. In two balls less than 20 overs they had only put on 73. Botha came back for Cusack for over 43 which cost nine runs including a six to Watson which could only be touched over the mid-wicket boundary by Langford-Smith. Then the wickets began to tumble. With the first ball of McCallan's ninth over, the 44th, McCallum was caught by Botha on the square leg boundary. 167-4-54. The innings had lasted 68 balls with one six and five fours. Watson followed his long-time partner in Botha's next over, the 45th. He was caught by K O'Brien on the mid-wicket boundary without the fielder having to move. 172-5-83. Watson's innings lasted 130 balls and contained one six and six fours. At the captain's dismissal 51 runs were required in 31 balls and the captain must accept a lot of responsibility for this Scottish position.

Blain joined Smith but the next wicket fell to the first ball of Botha's next over, the 47th. A foolish run was attempted and Blain, the non-striker, was run out by a throw from McCallan at short extra cover to the wicketkeeper. 179-6-2. Four balls later, with Drummond in, Smith tried to chop Botha and was bowled. 182-7-3. Hoffman was number nine. McCallan was bowled out (10-1-35-1) and Cusack came back for over 47. The second ball to Hoffman went for four byes. The third bowled him. 187-8-1.

The left-handed Haq, a good batsmen, was in unusually late. Off the third ball of the 49th over, bowled by Botha, Haq was dropped at long-on by Morgan. He was run out next ball when he attempted to run to Johnston at mid-off and the fielder threw down the bowler's wicket. 194-9-5. Rogers collected four runs from three balls but the third ball of the last over, bowled by Cusack, had Drummond caught at the wicket. Ireland were winners by 23 runs with three balls to spare.

Ireland used no less than eight bowlers and five of them took at least one wicket. Fourie and K. O'Brien did not take a wicket and went for five runs per over. Only McCallan bowled 10 overs. Botha had 3-27 in nine overs and Cusack 2-26 in 6.3 overs. The three "power plays" were all taken in the first 20 overs with six bowlers sharing those overs for 71 runs in all which only included three extras. In the entire innings there was only one wide.