Ireland v Italy – T20 World Cup warm-up match
Ireland 190-5 (20 overs): H Teketo 96*, L Tucker 34; J Singh 1-35
Italy 166-4 (20 rounds): A Mosca 69, WL Masden 61*; B McCarthy 2-43
Ireland won by 24 points
Full scorecard (external)
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Harry Turcotte scored a career-best 96 to lead Ireland to a 24-run victory over Italy and help them seal victory in the three-match T20 series with one match remaining.
As Ireland lost the toss and moved into batting position, Turkett started his team’s final innings with 88 as he bid to become just the fourth man to score a hundred for Ireland in the format.
After two boundaries left him just four runs behind, he got a leg-bye off the third delivery and failed to recover the strike.
The 26-year-old also led the way with 41 runs in Friday’s win when Ireland led 13-1 when Ross Adair was caught by Grant Stewart off the bowling of Thomas Draka.
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Turcotte and opener Paul Stirling added a quick 28 off the next 19 deliveries to inject some life into the Irish innings before Lorcan Tucker’s 62 for the third wicket put them into a comfortable position.
Although no Irish player other than Tectoro faced more than 22 goals, their final tally of 190 goals was a challenge for Italy.
Although Anthony Musca (69) and Wayne Madsen (61) combined for a 125-run stand for the third wicket, they struggled to reach the required scoring rate and their chase ended up trailing by just 24 runs.
The three-match series in the United Arab Emirates, part of the two teams’ preparations for the T20 Cricket World Cup in February, will conclude on Monday (14:00 GMT).
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Ireland will face co-hosts Sri Lanka in the World Cup opener on February 8 and will play Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe in Group B.
Italy, participating in the qualifiers for the first time, will face Scotland on February 9, after it was confirmed on Saturday that the world’s 14th-ranked side would replace Bangladesh in the tournament.
The other teams in Group C are England, West Indies and Nepal.