Ireland produced a clinical all-round display to beat hosts UAE by 57 runs in the first of their two-game series in Dubai.

Ireland lost skipper Paul Stirling - playing in his 160th T20 international, a record - cheaply, but went on to post 178 for six.

Ross Adair made welcome runs with a top score of 39, while Lorcan Tucker (38) and Curtis Campher (25) shared a fourth wicket stand of 55.

There were hard-hit cameos too for Ben Calitz (26*) and George Dockrell (22*) as the Irish finished strongly.

Muhammad Waseem (40) and Aryansh Sharma (23) started the reply brightly with an opening stand of 54, but once Gareth Delany got the breakthrough, the floodgates opened.

The hosts failed their trial by spin with leg-spinner Delany and left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys having identical figures of 3-26.

There were wickets too for Barry McCarthy (2-26), George Dockrell - who conceded just 12 runs in his four overs (1-12), and Mark Adair (1-28).

Campher, preferred to Craig Young, didn't bowl on his return to the side after his ankle injury, while Josh Little remained out of the starting line-up. 

Tim Tector and Ben White have been unused in the four matches in the region thus far and barring injuries look increasingly unlikely to feature in the first-choice side.

Ireland are back in action on Saturday before travelling to Sri Lanka next week for the start of the T20 World Cup.