Harry Tector’s career-best 96 not out led Ireland to a 24-run victory over Italy and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the third consecutive T20 series in Dubai.

With Ireland losing the toss and forced to bat, Tector embarked on his team’s final over from the 88th innings, aiming to become Ireland’s fourth male player to reach 100 hits in this format.

After going down to four runs with two boundaries, he ran a leg-bye in the third over and could not get the strike back.

The 26-year-old, who continued to lead the league with 41 points in Friday’s win, was on the verge of losing a point when opener Ross Adair was caught by Grant Stewart off the bowling of Thomas Draka, leaving Ireland 13-1 up.

Tector and opener Paul Stirling quickly hit 28 of the next 19 deliveries to energize Ireland’s innings. Lorcan Tucker then scored 62 runs for the third wicket, putting them in a comfortable position.

No Irish player other than Tector faced more than 22 balls, but the final ball count of 190 felt like a challenge for Italy.

Despite Anthony Muska (69) and Wayne Madsen (61) putting together a 125-run partnership for the third wicket, they struggled to score at the required rate and ultimately their chase ended 24 runs short.

The three-match series in the United Arab Emirates, part of both teams’ preparations for February’s T20 Cricket World Cup, concludes on Monday (14:00 GST).

Ireland will face co-hosts Sri Lanka in their World Cup opener on February 8, and will also face Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe in Group B.

First-timers Italy confirmed on Saturday that world No. 14 Italy will take part in the tournament in place of Bangladesh, with their opening game against Scotland on February 9.

England, West Indies and Nepal are the other teams in Group C.