CAN vs IRE LIVE Score T20 World Cup 2024: Canada 90/4; Kirton, Movva dig in after Ireland picks early wickets

Third over for Little. Eight runs from it as both batters look to shift gears with some intent behind their shots and good running between the wickets. 

Young comes back for his third over. Movva defends the first ball back to the bowler. Movva swings and looks to heave this on leg-side but misses. FOUR! Full and Movva lifts this over midwicket with one-hand to find the boundary. 

Campher again. Punched away to deep point by Kirton for a single. Off the outside half of Movva’s bat to deep third for a single. Kirton cops a blow on his body as Campher gets this to jag in and bounce a bit extra. Campher goes for the bouncer now but called wide for height. A couple of singles to end the over. 

Delany will continue. Six runs from it and Canada is inching towards becoming the first team to breach the 100-run mark at this venue. 

Here comes Curtis Campher. Kirton starts off by flicking one off his pads for a single. Run out attempt as Movva guides this to point and takes off for a single. However, it was stopped at point and the fielder takes a shy at the stumps and hits. Movva is well inside the crease though. Now an outside edge for Movva and he will take two more at deep third. Jabbed to deep square-leg by Movva for one more. Two more for Kirton at deep fine-leg to end the over as Campher strays on leg-stump. 

Gerath Delany into the attack. OUT! He strikes first ball as Bajwa ends up getting a leading edge and Delany takes a good one-handed return catch. Shreyas Movva is the next man in. He is off the mark with a single. Misfield at cover and that allows Kirton to take a single off the last ball of the over. 

Dilpreet Bajwa c & b Gerath Delany 7 (9b 1x4)

McCarthy again. Pulled away by Bajwa and falls short of the fine-leg fielder; just a single. Good yorker and dug away to mid-off by Kirton for a single. FOUR! Cracking shot by Bajwa. Lifted straight over the bowler’s head for a boundary. Dabbed to deep third by Bajwa now for one more. FOUR! Kirton swivels and pulls this to the fine-leg boundary. 

Young will continue. A quick single to start the over. A single for Bajwa behind point. This is dabbed to the point fielder by Pargat for a dot ball. Pargat steps out and lofts this over cover for a couple of runs. Bouncer from Young but it’s too high and called wide. 

OUT! Pargat looks to aerial after stepping out but ends up slicing this to the third man fielder. In comes Nicholas Kirton. He shoulders arms to the first ball he faces. 

Pargat Singh c Josh Little b Craig Young 18 (14b 2x4)

Barry McCarthy into the attack. FOUR! Cut away behind point by Pargat and he finds the boundary. FOUR! Drifted onto leg-stump and flicked away by Pargat for another boundary at fine-leg. Dabbed behind point this time for a single by Pargat. Down leg-side again, Bajwa misses the flick and the ball goes through to the keeper after brushing his pad. Three dot balls in a row to end the over. 

Craig Young into the attack. Low full toss and whipped away through leg-side by Pargat for a single. A couple of dot balls to follow as Johnson defends on the off-side and is unable to squeeze in a single. Now defended back to the bowler by Johnson for a third consecutive dot ball. Pushed to point by Johnson to make it four dot balls in a row. OUT! The pressure was building with all those dot balls and Johnson is caught at deep square-leg as he swivels and flicks this. 

Going down leg-side again and another wide ball. Sliced dangerously by Pargat over point, just out of reach of the fielder, but the ball plugs into the slow outfield and the batters collect three runs. 

FOUR! Inside edge off Johnson’s bat, and it beats the short fine-leg fielder to run away to the boundary. FOUR! Consecutive boundaries for Johnson and this came off the middle of the bat. Lofted over cover with ease. Full and on the pads and flicked for one more by Johnson. 

Little will continue. Too straight and Pargat whips this behind to short fine-leg. He wants a single but Johnson doesn’t. A bit of confusion between the batters in the middle. A single at deep third for Pargat next ball. 

Pargat Singh is in next. He is off the mark with a pull to fine-leg for a single. Jags away from a good length to beat Johnson’s outside edge. 

Adair will continue. OUT! Back-of-a-length and Dhaliwal was looking to cut this over point and ends up carving this to the fielder. 

Navneet Dhaliwal c George Dockrell b Mark Adair 6 (10b 1x4)

Here comes Josh Little. Angling away, skids through and stays low to beat Dhaliwal. There is a huge noise as the ball goes through to the keeper. Little thinks there was an outside edge but the umpire shakes his head. Stirling doesn’t review. The ball spat up a bit from a good length and yet again some uneven bounce here. Going down leg-side and called wide. 

Unlucky for Ireland! Replays suggest Dhaliwal had gloved that one to the keeper. Stirling will be kicking himself for not reviewing that one. 

FOUR! Drifted on the pads and flicked away with ease to the fine-leg boundary by Dhaliwal. Driven to mid-off for a single by Dhaliwal off the last ball. 

Short of a length and this jags away a bit from Johnson, who lets the ball go. FOUR! Short and pulled away to the fine-leg boundary by Johnson. This is slightly fuller and straighter, and a bit of extra bounce has Johnson defending back to the bowler. Too straight again and put away on leg-side by Johnson for a single. Down leg-side again and the ball brushes Dhaliwal’s pads and goes to the keeper’s left. Flicked to short fine-leg for a single by Dhaliwal to end the over. 

Mark Adair will take the new ball. Aaron Johnson and Navneet Dhaliwal are the openers for Canada. 

We are all set to start. A lot of the focus will be on the pitch, obviousy. Remember, India and Pakistan will face off here on June 09, two days from now. 

Time for the anthems as both teams make their way to the ground. Ireland’s anthem is up first, followed by Canada’s. 

The conditions here haven’t suited batting one bit. In two games so far, the 100-run marked has not yet been breached. Sri Lanka was bowled out for 77 runs, and South Africa huffed and puffed to chase them down in 16.2 overs. Ireland then was bowled out for 96 against India, and the Men in Blue took a few hits on the body due to uneven bounce even though they chased the target comfortably inside 13 overs. 

Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Dilpreet Bajwa, Saad Bin Zafar (c), Dillon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon. 

Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Craig Young. 

Blazing sunshine at toss time, says Ravi Shastri. 

Ireland wins the toss and elects to bowl. Paul Stirling says the leg-spinner Ben White sits out and a seamer comes in. For Canada, off-spinner Nikhil Dutta goes out and leg-spin all-rounder Junaid Siddiqui comes in. 

There was heavy rain overnight so the pitch could be even more sluggish. The square boundaries are skewed, with one 62 metres long and the other 73 metres. A lot of grass has been taken off and the pitch looks much whiter, says Dale Steyn. Could finally be better batting conditions on this pitch, which has come under intense scrutiny of late. 

Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Dilpreet Bajwa, Dilon Heyliger, Saad Bin Zafar (c), Kaleem Sana, Jeremy Gordon, Rishiv Joshi/Nikhil Dutta.

Andy Balbirnie, Paul Stirling (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector/Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gerath Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Josh Little, Ben White.

Canada: Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Rishiv Joshi, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur (wk), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva (wk).

Ireland: Paul Stirling (c), Andy Balbirnie, Ross Adair, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, Neil Rock (wk), George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Graham Hume, Craig Young, Ben White.