Ireland can head to the T20 World Cup with a spring in their step after edging out the Netherlands by three runs to finish their table-topping tri-nations campaign with a flourish.
Already guaranteed top spot in a series also involving Scotland, Ireland were looking to close out an unbeaten campaign and posted 161 for six, underpinned by George Dockrell’s 53 off just 30 deliveries.
Following Max O’Dowd’s 60 off 41 balls, the Netherlands needed 25 from the final 18 deliveries but Mark Adair – who earlier hit 19 off eight balls to put on 40 with Dockrell – took the wickets of Scott Edwards and Vikramjit Singh in a single over to stymie their pursuit.
In an edgy finish, the Netherlands required 11 off the last over to win and then four off the final ball to tie the scores but they could not find a boundary off Craig Young and settled on 158 for five.
Defeat at Sportpark Westvliet at The Hague condemns the Netherlands to the wooden spoon as Scotland finish runners-up behind Ireland.
All three teams now head to the Caribbean or United States for warm-up fixtures ahead of the T20 World Cup, which gets under way on June 1st.
