London, June 15: Pakistan beat Ireland by 39 runs at the Oval to increase their chances of reaching the semi-finals.
Ireland’s target of 160 always seemed out-of-reach for the Irish against an ever-improving bowling attack, with Saeed Ajmal (4-19) and Umar Gul (2-19) to the fore on this occasion.
Niall O’Brien (7) top-edged an attempted pull straight back to Mohammad Aamer, who took a steepling catch off his own bowling.
Ireland reached 37-1 at the end of their Powerplay, with just three boundaries, as they struggled to make the most of the period before spin entered the equation.
Predictably, Shahid Afridi then struck with his fifth delivery when Paul Stirling, making his first appearance of the tournament, missed a sweep and was bowled for 17.
At the midway stage, Ireland had reached 66-2, leaving an unlikely 94 to get off the last 10 overs.
Gul, the five-wicket hero against New Zealand, came into the attack in the 12th over with the run-rate continuing to mount up for the Irish.
The pace man’s initial spell lasted just one over on this occasion before Saeed Ajmal replaced him at the Pavilion End.
The off-spinner struck an instant blow when Will Porterfield (40) chipped a timid effort to extra cover.
Umar then swapped ends, conceding just one run from his second over, to leave an improbable 71 needed from the last five overs.
Wickets tumbled at regular intervals in the closing overs with Ajmal and Gul inflicting an Irish collapsed from 87-2 to 120-9 at the end of their 20 overs.
Pakistan had earlier reached 159-5 after winning the toss.
The batting side started tentatively but Kamran Akmal roused their supporters with the first two sixes of the innings, over midwicket and straight back past the bowler, during a Trent Johnston over, his second, that leaked 20 runs.
By contrast, Boyd Rankin’s first three overs cost just seven runs as he discomforted both Pakistan openers with his steepling bounce.
Alex Cusack replaced Johnston (2-0-29-0 at that stage) and made the breakthrough with his fourth ball when Shahzaib Hasan (23) mistimed a drive to mid-off.
Pakistan opted to promote Afridi up the order, having shown signs of a return to batting form in the last match against New Zealand, and the ploy paid dividends with a quickfire 24 (off 13 balls) from the all-rounder.
Off-spinner Kyle McCallan then claimed the wicket of Afridi in his first over when the batsman holed out to long-on.
Johnston’s return to the attack was no more effective than his earlier spell as he conceded 12 from his third over to usher Pakistan close to 100.
Akmal brought up the three figures, in the 13th over, with a delightful extra-cover drive to the boundary off Regan West.
The left-armer then removed the Pakistan captain Younus Khan two balls later when he spun one in between his bat and pad, with the right-hander going for a sweep, and bowled him for 10.
Akmal reached his 50 off 46 balls (4 x 4/1 x 6) at the start of the 16th over as Pakistan looked to push on for an imposing total.
Johnston finally got some revenge for a distressing spell of bowling (4-0-45-1) when he yorked Akmal (57) off his penultimate ball.
Misbah-ul-Haq (20) belted the largest six of the innings, over long-on, but McCallan (2-26) removed the veteran two balls later when he got an inside-edge onto his pad and wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien took a diving catch.
Rankin came back for his last over – the 19th – and carried on where he left off at the top of the innings to finish with the stand-out analysis of 4-0-11-0.
Abdul Razzaq (15 not out 9 balls) brought up the 150 with an unerring straight drive as 13 came off the last over from Cusack.
Pakistan end their Super Eights campaign with two victories from three matches, meaning a win for Sri Lanka in their last game against New Zealand tomorrow would guarantee progress for both sides. A win for New Zealand would leave three teams level on four points and the semi-finalists to come out of Group F being decided on run-rate.