Pakistan lost their opening two matches of the World Cup; Ireland won their opening two matches. But it is the former who progressed to the quarter-finals with a reasonably polished seven-wicket victory in Adelaide
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Scorer: S Balasubramanian | Commentator: Sidharth Monga
That's all from today. Just a reminder of the quarter-finals before we go
South Africa v Sri Lanka, SCG, Wednesday, March 18
India v Bangladesh, MCG, Thursday, March 19
Australia v Pakistan, Adelaide Oval, Friday, March 20
New Zealand v West Indies, Westpac Stadium, Saturday, March 21
The winner of Sydney game faces the winner of the Wellington game in Auckland in the semi-final. The other semi-final will be in Sydney. Cheers everybody
"We were a few runs light," says William Porterfield "All credit to the way they bowled. The best ever innings only comes when you win. We thought it was a pretty good surface. Slightly slower. Very good pitch. We would have like a few more runs on the board. The confidence has been high throughout. The fans have been fantastic. Hope we get more games, and progress from there."
"This was a pressure game," says Misbah-ul-Haq. "A game more pressure game for us than, say, a quarter-final. Give a lot of credit to the fast bowlers. It was a slow pitch. They bowled their hearts out. They took the wickets and restricted Ireland. Sarfraz's was a brilliant knock. Much-needed knock. Very happy how he went on and stayed there till the end. Yeah of course we can win the World Cup. We have the momentum. The bowling is doing really well, the batting is beginning to do its part. On the day anything can happen. We have the bowling line-up that can surprise any team."
"Very happy," says Sarfraz Ahmed, Man of the Match. "Even before the match, Waqar said we haven't scored a hundred so we must try and get the hundred. Very important win. It was do or die for us. The bowlers and the fielders did really well. You could see they were giving it their all in the do-or-die match."
Don't go away, we will bring to you what the captains have to say
Well played Pakistan to have come back after the disastrous start to their campaign. Hard luck Ireland but you have played really well. You have been good to watch, and the World Cup will be poorer for it if you were not to feature in it
Superb death bowling by Pakistan set this win up after William Porterfield scored an excellent century. Wahab Riaz and Sohail Khan were excellent in the end, and then Sarfraz Ahmed saw them through with a century, their first in World Cups since 2007
Stirling to bowl now
William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, has questioned "the point in keeping going" for Associate nations if the ICC does not reverse its decision to cut the next World Cup to 10 teams
Plays of the day from the Group B match between Ireland and Pakistan in Adelaide
Pakistan's captain Misbah-ul-Haq has admitted Sarfraz Ahmed was only returned to his side's plans for the tournament as the very last resort
Stats highlights from the last match of the group stages, between Pakistan and Ireland in Adelaide
Sarfraz Ahmed scored his maiden ODI hundred to steer Pakistan into the Quarter-finals, by comfortably beating their Irish opponents by seven wickets in Adelaide on Sunday.
