Ireland booked their place in the forthcoming Women's World T20 in West Indies after seeing off the Papua New Guinea challenge with ease in the first of the two semifinals of qualifiers. Led by a steady hand from Gaby Lewis, Ireland posted 113/6 in their 20 overs before a collective bowling effort bowled PNG out for 86 to qualify for the finals.

Put in to bat, Ireland were dealt an early scare as Clare Shillington fell off just the second ball of the innings. But those early fears were allayed through a steely 47-run stand between Cecelia Joyce (18) and Lewis. But after the duo departed in quick succession, PNG were able to pull back the innings through a double strike from Vicky Araa. Laura Delany remained unbeaten on 21 to see Ireland post 113.

If PNG believed they could chase it, that belief was blown away by the third over of the chase. Isobel Joyce and Eimear Richardson struck early to leave PNG at 7 for 2. Brenda Tau and Tanya Ruma attempted a rescue act with a mini partnership but the latter was run-out to put a spanner in PNG's works. The middle-order of Kaia Arua, Veru Frank all got starts but couldn't keep up to the required scoring rate. Lucy O'Reilly finished with 3 for 13 for Ireland, taking them into the showpiece event in the process.

Laura Delany, Ireland captain, expressed her delight at the qualification. "We're absolutely ecstatic, and judging by the reaction after the game, everyone is thrilled to get the win here today," Delany said. "Our main focus coming into the tournament was not just to qualify but win the [World T20] tournament, but to win the qualifier like in 2015. We have come out with the same mindset, and the final on Saturday will be a tough game for us. We've been really fortunate to have a lot of cricket in Ireland in the lead up - a tough series against New Zealand and a good series against Bangladesh. That put us in good stead for the qualifying tournament. Today we didn't fire with the bat the way we would have liked to, but I'm very confident come Saturday [the final] we'll put that right.