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Ireland celebrated St Patrick's Day in style as they produced one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history to dump Pakistan out of the tournament.
After knocking Pakistan over for 132, Ireland reached their rain reduced target of 128 in the 42nd, led by wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien's stellar 72 - easily the best performance of any player on the green Sabina Park wicket.
Having won the toss, Ireland skipper Trent Johnston sent Pakistan in and the move paid immediate dividends, Dave Langford-Smith removing Mohammad Hafeez with a lifting delivery outside off which was edged through to O'Brien.
The Hafeez wicket set the tone for the remainder of the innings; Younis Khan made a three-ball duck when he was caught in the slips by Andre Botha.
Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan's best batsman, and opener Imran Nazir added a vital 41 for the third wicket but when Yousuf smashed a wide Johnston delivery straight to William Porterfield at point and Inzamam-ul-Haq fell to the cunning on Botha moments later, Pakistan had slumped to real trouble at 56/4.
Ireland could barely afford to rest on their laurels, however, given the depth of Pakistan's batting order. Botha's impeccable accuracy did not give them a chance to revive the innings, and when he picked up Nazir for 24 and the O'Brien brothers combined to remove Shoaib Malik for 9, Pakistan were staring down the barrel at 72/6.
Kamran Akmal decided to counter-attack, and thrashed his way to 27 with a handful of boundaries before Boyd Rankin struck twice. It was the captain Johnston who took both catches to dismiss Azhar Mahmood and Akmal - the first a regulation take from a miscued Mahmood pull at midwicket, the second a brilliant diving effort looking over his shoulder to dismiss Akmal.
It was all the encouragement Ireland needed and, despite a doughty 25-run stand for the 9th wicket between Sami and Ifthikar Anjum, had humbled the fourth-ranked nation for 132 when Kyle McCallan picked up the last couple of wickets.
Botha was the pick of the bowlers with the remarkable figures of 8-4-5-2 when his teammates charitably conceded 23 wides, while Johnston's captaincy and leadership in the field was nothing short of outstanding.
Set a revised target of 128 from 47 overs, Ireland's chase began poorly when they lost their century-maker from the last match, Jeremy Bray, and Middlesex's Eoin Morgan cheaply to Mohammad Sami to crash to 15/2.
It took a superb knock from 'keeper Niall O'Brien, who was overlooked by Kent last year in favour of former England wicket-keeper Geraint Jones, to restore Irish hopes. He received solid support from Porterfield, who grafted his way to 13 from 50 balls before Hafeez knocked him over.
When Sami picked up a third wicket to dismiss Botha for a duck soon after, Pakistan still had a show with Ireland poised at 70/4. However, a 38-run stand between the O'Brien brothers snuffed out this hope as they cruised to 108/4 with little alarm.
However, the wicket of Niall - trying to put Shoaib Malik into the stands for a second time but instead being stumped by Akmal - sent jitters through the Irish camp. Andrew White struck a solitary boundary before he was was caught by Hafeez off the bowling of Ifthikar, and when McCallan fell the next ball, Ireland still required 20 runs with three wickets in hand.
Once again, it was Johnston who led by example, and with O'Brien he nurdled the ball around, gradually narrowing the deficit. Pakistan felt indebted to the Irish for their earlier wides and donated some back, and it was with an almighty blow off Azhar Mahmood into the long-on stands from the skipper that the match was sealed. Ireland had recorded a historic victory, and a sea of green that had been boisterous for so long at Sabina Park entered full party mode.
