Stirling fires Ireland to win with blazing ton

KOLKATA, Mar 18 (AFP): Paul Stirling smashed an explosive century as Ireland posted an emphatic six-wicket victory over the Netherlands in their last World Cup match Tuesday. The 20-year-old opener gave a superb exhibition of hitting, cracking two sixes and 14 fours in his 72-ball 101 as Ireland chased a stiff 307-run target with 14 balls to spare at Eden Gardens. Stirling also upstaged the Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate, who scored 106 for his second World Cup hundred. South African AB de Villiers and India's Sachin Tendulkar are the only other batsmen to have made two centuries in this tournament. Ireland and the Netherlands were already out of contention for a place in the quarter-finals, but Ireland had the satisfaction of posting two victories in the tournament while the Netherlands remained winless. The Dutch recorded their highest total at the tournament but failed to keep pressure on the Irish openers William Porterfield (68) and Stirling, who delighted a few thousand spectators with an exciting exhibition of strokeplay. Their 177-run stand was Ireland's best for the first wicket in one-dayers, surpassing the 118 between the same pair against Bangladesh in Belfast last year. "It was a great innings from Paul and he showed a lot of character. We were pretty confident, but slightly disappointed with the way we bowled. To finish it off in Eden Gardens with a win is great," said skipper Porterfield. Man-of-the-match Stirling was more aggressive than Porterfield, racing to his half-century off just 25 balls and then taking 45 more deliveries to complete his second one-day hundred. The Dutch had to wait until the 27th over to break the stand when off-spinner Tom Cooper had Porterfield caught behind. Stirling fell in the next over, caught by Alexei Kervezee at deep mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar. All the other batsmen chipped in, with Niall O'Brien hitting 57 not out, Ed Joyce scoring 28 and Gary Wilson 27. Kevin O'Brien finished on 15 not out.