Cricket Under-19 World Cup: After coming so very close against England and New Zealand earlier in the competition, Ireland registered their first victory of the Under-19 World Cup in Colombo yesterday, comfortably beating Namibia by six wickets.

It is some consolation for their heartbreak against the two Test nations but, with one game remaining for the Irish (against either Scotland or Uganda on Saturday) this tournament will have to go down as one of missed opportunities for a team full of potential.

After putting on 304 runs against the Kiwis the day before and still contriving to lose the match, it was significant that the Irish managed to come into yesterday's game with Namibia in a positive frame of mind. From the moment the Irish took the field in the morning they always looked like a side that was going to win.

The fielding was sharp and the opening bowlers kept a reasonable line and length with Niall McDarby taking the early wicket of Keady Strauss, his 12th of the tournament so far. But really it was Ireland's off-spin pair of James Hall and his Waringstown club-mate Gary Kidd who did the damage.

They tied the opposition down and forced them into taking risks. Hall's four wickets for 29 off 9.3 overs won him the man of the match award while Kidd's 3-26 off 10 was also very impressive.

Namibia crumbled to 115 all out and unusually Ireland found themselves batting before the lunch interval. Greg Thompson (26) and Fintan McAllister (23) gave them a good start, putting on 52 for the first wicket and after that the result was never in doubt. As he has done on more than one occasion, captain Eoin Morgan took up the cause and looked in fine form, scoring 27 off 24 balls before hitting a lofted drive too close to Floris Marx at mid-on. David Rankin (27) also batted well after a shaky start and fell lbw just before the target was reached. They eventually won by six wickets with just over 20 overs to spare.