World Cricket League, Amstelveen: Ireland beat Canada by five wickets
Match scorecard

Kevin O'Brien hit 43 crucial runs and also took two wickets

Ireland qualified for Saturday's World League Division 1 final in Holland with a match to spare after beating Canada by five wickets on Wednesday.

The Irish restricted Canada to 154-9 from their 50 overs with Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell and Andrew White all claiming two wickets.

O'Brien and John Mooney were unbeaten on 43 and 44 as Ireland won by five wickets and with 11 overs to spare.

Ireland face Holland on Friday with a place in the final already secured.

Wednesday's win was Ireland's fourth straight victory in the competition.

The under-strength Irish had already defeated Kenya, Afghanistan and Scotland in their opening three games as they bid to remain the top associate nation.

Captain William Porterfield and other English county players Boyd Rankin, Niall O'Brien and Gary Wilson are unavailable for this week's competition while injured Andre Botha is also missing.

Ireland won last year's competition which also doubled as the qualifier for the 2011 ICC World Cup.

Afghanistan's win over the Netherlands on Wednesday guaranteed the Irish a place in Saturday's final even though Phil Simmons' side still have to play a round-robin match against the hosts on Friday.

George Dockrell notched two wickets in Amstelveen on Wednesday

They will face either Afghanistan or Scotland in Saturday's decider at Amstelveen.

The Scots face Afghanistan in their final group match in Rotterdam on Friday.

Kevin O'Brien and Trent Johnston claimed early dismissals to leave Canada on 6-2 although Geoff Barnett and Nitish Kumar pushed the score on to 70-2.

After Barnett was caught by O'Brien off a White delivery, Kumar was bowled by Dockrell to leave Canada on 82-4.

A further Dockrell wicket and Paul Stirling's dismissal of captain Ashish Bagai left Canada in trouble at 109-6 and they needed contributions from tail-enders Umar Bhatti and Harvir Baidwan to get beyond 150.

Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie put on 50 runs for the first wicket in the opening 10 overs before Balbirnie departed for 17 off a Baidwan ball.

Andrew Poynter and White both departed for ducks and Rory McCann only contributed six runs as the Irish slumped to 92-5.

However, O'Brien and Mooney dug in to get Ireland over the line with patient knocks.

The normally big-hitting O'Brien produced a disciplined unbeaten 43 from 64 balls while Mooney's 44 came off 61 deliveries.

Ireland's match schedule

Thursday 1 July - beat Kenya by seven wickets

Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 July - beat Afghanistan by 39 runs

Monday 5 July - beat Scotland by five wickets

Wednesday 7 July - beat Canada by five wickets

Friday 9 July - v Netherlands, Amstelveen

Saturday 10 July - final (venue, opponent tbc)

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