Irish Cricket 2007

[dfx-]

115-1

De Villiers out in a 31 over game - considering the start SA had at 9 runs an over, 115 isn't too bad

[Sheridan]

RSA finish on 173-4, Ireland, particularly McCallan and Cusack (3-15 on debut) did well to reign South Africa in after a rampant start. I'm not sure why Johnston persisted with Whelan and Fourie except to offer them experience, the runs they leaked up-front effectively cost Ireland the game.

Three figures would be nice in the Irish innings.

[pete]

Only seen the start of the irish batting. Currently 23-0 3.1 overs. Excellent start by Porterfield. Looks like will be stopped for rain though... What happens then?

I wondered why cricket not taken off in Ireland before until seen how much its rained this weekend ;)

[TheBoss]

All going well and now 2 wickets down in the 9th over, why put Fourie 3rd ?

EDIT: 3 Down now, in the 11th Over

[TheBoss]

Why do they bother to get off to a decent start for once and then give away the wickets, 66-5 off 16 overs.

[pete]

77-6

Required run rate is now 7.37. RSA will see this out shortly.

Niall O'Brien was a big loss. His brother now gone to stupid shot. :rolleyes:

[TheBoss]

84/7

At least they are giving 100% :rolleyes:

[mypost]

Lost by 42 runs. :o

[Sheridan]

It was a pretty good performance with what barely qualified as a B team. Cusack picked up MOTM. Ultimately, Ireland played poorly with a substandard side and were one decent knock away from getting close to one of the best teams in the world. Carroll doesn't look up to international cricket, Porterfield, White and Kevin O'Brien need a serious kick up the hole. Wouldn't hurt to drop them for a while.

[pete]

Probably suffering from burn out as a lot of cricket for part timers.

I don't understand the logic of buying in foreigners for the County cricket matches. Surely it would be better to expose more Ireland squad members to that level & could rotate the team a bit? Bringing in foreigners seems to make no difference & even if few a couple of matches achieves nothing..?

[Sheridan]

The rationale is that Ireland compete as an honorary county side, and all county sides field two ostensibly world class foreigners in the competition, so Ireland and Scotland are permitted to do the same. Much of the improvement in the national set-up in recent years was due to the input of players like the Waugh brothers, Hanse Cronje and Jonty Rhodes during their guest stints. Vernon Philander, who took Ireland apart today, was supposed to have been their main overseas player this year but pulled out through injury.

I don't think Ireland should employ overseas pros at huge expense in future unless they have some knowledge and experience to impart. Otherwise, non-Ireland-qualified players from our domestic leagues should occupy those slots (which is how André Botha first appeared for Ireland.)

[OwlsFan]

P**s poor crowd with one man and his dog present. Good bowling performance but as ever the main skill in cricket is batting and that was ordinary.

[pete]

P**s poor crowd with one man and his dog present.

I read somewhere that The Irish Cricket Union decided not to postpone their normal club matches so I suspect that might have impacted on the attendance. On TV pictures looked like only India fans attended on Saturday.

I think Ireland have two matches later this summer against the WI so I would think better chance of getting a win there.

[Dodge]

Fairly certain they'd have gotten a bigger crowd if it was played in Dublin

[Jerry The Saint]

I read somewhere that The Irish Cricket Union decided not to postpone their normal club matches so I suspect that might have impacted on the attendance. On TV pictures looked like only India fans attended on Saturday.

I think Ireland have two matches later this summer against the WI so I would think better chance of getting a win there.

Will be interesting to see the crowd in Dublin for the Windies game compared to all these fixtures (I know the sh_tty weaher didn't help). Plenty more Indians and South Africans in Dublin - would it have killed them to throw one match from this series down here?

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ireland/content/current/story/299374.html



Across Northern Ireland there were 86 club matches scheduled and, as hard as the Irish Cricket Union (ICU) and Northern Cricket Union (NCU) worked, the one-day internationals were not granted a clear weekend. That removed a large chunk of likely spectators, from the club players themselves down to friends and families.

"To be honest I'm a bit disappointed," said Warren Deutrom, the ICU chief executive, "we did all we could but the NCU committee wouldn't agree to stopping the fixtures." However, after the weeks of fraught negotiation to ensure the matches went ahead at all he was just relived to have some cricket to watch. "All we want is to stage matches. We have the facilities, commitment and enthusias

:rolleyes:

[Sheridan]

In terms of the local subcontinental and South African population turning out, maybe, maybe not. There's more of spectator culture in Northern cricket but most of the possible attendees were at their local club games, which weren't postponed (perverse, but on the other hand we have a very small window in which to complete all scheduled fixtures in this country because of the weather.)

[onceahoop]

Sorry for bringing up a bit of an elephant in the room. Watching the world cup I noticed a group of supporters from Donnemana with ulster flags and maybe even a Union flag. They did not appear to mix with the rest of the Irish support. Is there a bit of bad feeling between some elements in the NCU and the rest?

[Sheridan]

Donemana is a North West club, not an NCU one. There's plenty of regional animosity between NW and NCU. Otherwise there's not a problem.

[Sheridan]

26 million people in India alone watched the first RSA vs. India game. The series proper has provided terrific entertainment so far and is poised at 1-1 ahead of Sunday's decider.

[onceahoop]

Donemana is a North West club, not an NCU one. There's plenty of regional animosity between NW and NCU. Otherwise there's not a problem.


Thanks for that Sheridan.

[Sheridan]

Ireland have retained the European Under 23 Championship afer defeating Scotland in Paisley today. It was a somewhat hollow triumph, however, as this game was the only one which survived the weather, both the Netherlands' fixtures having been washed out.

Ireland batted first and made 220-8, thanks to 110 from Paul Stirling. Senior team regulars William Porterfield (the captain) and Kevin O'Brien made 0 & 38 respectively. O'Brien took 4-18 in the Scottish innings as the hosts collapsed to 104 all out. Ireland won by 116 runs.

[TheBoss]

Always good youth system in the Irish Ranks.

Porterfield getting 0 in an U-23, now whats up with him.

[Sheridan]

The Irish squad for this month's quadrangular series against West Indies, Scotland and the Netherlands has been named and is as follows.

Trent Johnston (Railway Union), Captain
André Botha (North County)
Kenny Carroll (Railway Union)
Alex Cusack (Clontarf)
Thinus Fourie (Merrion)
Gary Kidd (Waringstown)
Dave Langford-Smith (Phoenix)
Kyle McCallan (Waringstown)
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex)
Kevin O'Brien (Railway Union)
Niall O'Brien (Northamptonshire)
William Porterfield (Rush)
Andrew White (Instonians)

Boyd Rankin has yet to recover from injury and misses out, but André Botha and DLS (neither of whom played in the India/RSA series) return. Eoin Morgan has deigned to make himself available, but Jeremy Bray's self-imposed exile continues. Of the squad which competed at Stormont, Dominick Joyce, Roger Whelan and Gary Wilson are dropped for this series.

[TheBoss]

Looks good enough, I would drop Morgan cause of his loyalties to England.

[Poor Student]

but Jeremy Bray's self-imposed exile continues

Has he fallen out with management?

[Sheridan]

Well, with the union. He claims it's been costing him money to play for Ireland, which may or may not be true, but the fact that his technical idiosyncrasies were ruthlessly exposed by video analysis at the World Cup is probably somewhat germane too.

[Sheridan]

Leinster teams continued their dominance of the Irish Senior Cup and will occupy all four semi-final slots regardless of who wins the remaining, rain-delayed semi-final between Malahide and The Hills.

Holders Railway Union beat Phoenix after posting 260-8 off 50 overs (to which Trent Johnston contributed 113 off 111 balls.) Worrying for Ireland, Phoenix's David Langford-Smith went for 65 off his ten overs. In response, Phoeniex were dismissed for 95.

North County restricted Derriaghy to 146 (Lawrence 4-29, Botha 2-20) in their quarter-final, and reached their target comfortably thanks to an unbroken stand of 76 between the Mooney brothers. North County won by six wickets.

A rain-affected 10-over (!!) game at Donemana saw the home side post 87-7 against Rush (Shahid Iqbal 3-10.) In response, William Porterfield made an uncharacteristically quickfire 33 against his old club but Rush were struggling until Shahid Iqbal and former Ireland international Naseer Shoukat bludgeoned 41 off the last four overs. Rush won by 2 wickets.

The semi-final draw pairs North County with Railway Union. The winner of the The Hills vs. Malahide tie (July 27) will face Rush. Semi-finals take place on August 4th.

[OwlsFan]

My club is slightly further down the leagues :o

www.sandyfordcc.org

This Saturday is a closed day for cricket in Leinster so that people can go and see the West Indies game in Clontarf. The LCU have learned from the mistake by the Ulster Branch which didn't make it a closed day when Ireland played South Africa at Stormont and only a few punters turned up (most of the fans were out at their own club games playing or watching).

[onceahoop]

.

The semi-final draw pairs North County with Railway Union. The winner of the The Hills vs. Malahide tie (July 27) will face Rush. Semi-finals take place on August 4th.

The draw shows the strength of cricket in Fingal. Three clubs within a couple of miles, as the crow flies, of each other contesting the semi-finals.

[Sheridan]

Ireland won the toss ahead of today's ODI against the Netherlands (demolished by ten wickets in yesterday's Clontarf fixture against the West Indies) at Stormont and chose to BAT first! Bizarre call.

The team is as follows: Carroll, Morgan, Botha, N O'Brien, K O'Brien, Cusack, Johnston, McCallan, Fourie, Langford-Smith, Kidd.

[TheBoss]

210/8 off the 50 Overs - Not really a top total but OK.

Morgan getting a half century, only really good innings.

[Sheridan]

Ireland beat the Netherlands by one run in a tense ODI at Stormont. Morgan top-scored with 51 (albeit at a poor strike-rate of 45.53) but the only other contributions of note in Ireland's 210-8 came from David Langford-Smith, who smashed 31 off thirteen balls (including three sixes) and Kevin O'Brien, who hit 34.

DLS didn't enjoy much luck with the ball, howeve; he was yanked out of the attack after his first three overs went for 22 and didn't bowl again. The Dutch openers Kervezee and Bukhair progressed serenely to 84-0 before McCallan had Kervezee caught by Carroll.

Bukhari was eventually run out for 71, but by then the Dutch had racked up 138 and looked in complete control. Tight bowling by Botha (1-21 off 10) and Fourie (0-19 off six) kept the lid on things, however, and Alex Cusack took the vital wicket of Zuiderent to keep Ireland in the hunt. Kevin O'Brien bowled remarkably well at the death, taking 1-19 off five, and the Dutch required six off the last ball. They could only manage four.

[TheBoss]

At last a ODI win :D

Whats with the players attitude towards the media ?

[Jerry The Saint]

At last a ODI win

Whats with the players attitude towards the media ?

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/4natireland/content/story/301689.html


Quadrangular tournament, Ireland, 2007

Ireland players explain protest

Cricinfo staff

July 12, 2007

Ireland's players have explained their decision not to speak to the media following the one-run win against Netherlands at Stormont on Wednesday, saying it stemmed from delays in addressing key issues since returning from the World Cup.

Initial reports suggested the main issue was money which was owed from the World Cup campaign, but the statement said that was just one of four or five issues that needed to be dealt with.

"Despite reports to the contrary, this is not 'a misunderstanding' between ourselves and the Irish Cricket Union," said the statement. "We have tabled four or five issues over the past four months, and these have still to be resolved. This is our attempt to move things along and hopefully speed things up. We have been extremely patient with the Union, but the current delay is totally unacceptable."

"We haven't been getting the rewards for the effort we've been putting in over a long period of time. We'd like to emphasise that this isn't just about money - while that's obviously important, there are other matters which need to be resolved, and despite meetings with the ICU, little or no progress has been made."

It went onto say that it wasn't a course of action that was taken easily. "Nobody has done more during the last six months in the promotion of Irish cricket than the team. During and after the World Cup, the team has been on call to the world media at all times and have gone beyond the call of duty in our quest to put Irish cricket on the map."

Warren Deutrom, the ICU chief executive, explained his side of the situation to Cricinfo. "The cheque was due to be handed out to the players during a meeting that we were due to convene on Thursday or Friday," he said. "Unfortunately, I only got confirmation that everything [was finalised] during the second innings yesterday [Ireland's match against Netherlands at Stormont], which was a little too late to prevent the players' action. Which was a shame.

"Fundamentally, the players are our most important resource - and I know, unfortunately, the more we keep saying that it might sound as lip service, but it's not. We genuinely are trying to do our best."

Following the victory over Netherlands it was left to Phil Simmons, the coach, to answer questions and it continues a difficult time for Ireland since returning from the World Cup.

They have been stripped of leading players such as Boyd Rankin and Eoin Morgan, although Morgan is available for the quadrangular series, and Deutrom has spoken frequently about wanting to put in place central contracts.

Recently, Jeremy Bray, the opening batsman, hit out at the ICU, calling them "a joke" in the way they were going about trying to make the game more professional.

© Cricinfo

The whole WC aftermath has been poorly handled. One things for sure, the Irish and worldwide media aren't going to hang around waiting for the players and union to sort out their domestic squabbles. This series could have done with a bit of advertising at least - most people don't even know it's on.

Weather isn't helping the promotion of the game either! :eek:

Do we get any ranking points if tomorrow's game is rained off:confused: :)

[Sheridan]

World Cup bonuses (£3,500 per man) will be belatedly paid today.

[pete]

Ireland v WI, rain delayed, reduced to 33 overs

Ireland won toss & decided to bat.

84 runs
4 wkts, 17.2 overs

[Sheridan]

Yesterday's game was abandoned much to the chagrin of the Irish camp, who felt the pitch was playable for much of the early rain delay. Seems like WI didn't want to risk another defeat...

Ireland are playing Scotland at Stormont in the final game of the quadrangular series today. Johnston opted to bat first on a damp, slow wicket and progress was sluggish at first. A patient 72 from Niall O'Brien and some big hitting down the order (Johnston 32 off 23 balls) allowed Ireland to post 222/7, which should be fairly defensible.

Victory (with a bonus point) today would give Ireland a share of the trophy, not that anyone is particularly bothered about that.

[Sheridan]

Ireland beat Scotland by 22 runs, but missed out on the Quandrangular Trophy due to their failure to secure a bonus point. Scotland made a strong start despite lagging behind the run-rate throughout, retaining plenty of wickets in hand. Tight bowling from McCallan, Kidd and Botha tied the Scots down and left them with too much to do in the last ten overs. The Scottish dangermen McCallum (54) and Watson (83) fell to McCallan and Botha in successive overs, and the last six Scottish wickets tumbled for 22 runs.

Botha was the pick of the bowlers with 3-27 off 9. Cusack took 2-26 off 6.3 and now boasts the remarkable ODI bowling average of 7.25, with a strke rate of one wicket per 10.5 balls. Scotland were dismissed for 199.

[BobtheDrog]

My club is slightly further down the leagues :o

www.sandyfordcc.org

This Saturday is a closed day for cricket in Leinster so that people can go and see the West Indies game in Clontarf. The LCU have learned from the mistake by the Ulster Branch which didn't make it a closed day when Ireland played South Africa at Stormont and only a few punters turned up (most of the fans were out at their own club games playing or watching).

The LCU started doing that a couple of years ago. Good to see the Fingal clubs doing well again hopefully Rush can win it this year as the underdogs

[Sheridan]

Ireland A face Denmark in Belfast next weekend and will also face MCC at Malahide in a three-day fixture from July 31st. The squad is as follows:

Andrew White (Instonians) - Captain
Kenny Carroll (Railway Union)
Peter Connell (North County)
Alex Cusack (Clontarf)
Phil Eaglestone (Strabane)
Thinus Fourie (Merrion)
Dominick Joyce (Merrion)
Gary Kidd (Waringstown)
Ryan Haire (North Down)
Andrew Poynter (Clontarf)
Reinhardt Strydom (North County)
Roger Whelan (Railway Union)
Gary Wilson (Surrey)

[Sheridan]

Ireland A won their two match series with the Danish national team 2-0. Game one was played at Stormont yesterday, where Ireland A dismissed Denmark for 126 (Whelan 2-19, Fourie 2-10, Cusack 2-12, Eaglestone 1-15, White 0-27, Kidd 1-21, Strydom 1-20.)

In reply, Ireland lost Joyce (18) and Carroll (4) cheaply but cruised to a seven-wicket victory thanks to an unbeaten 63 from captain Andrew White.

Today's encounter at the unlikely venue of Muckamore was a far closer affair. Ireland batted first and were dismissed for 153. Thomas Hansen and Bashir Shah ran through the Irish order. Joyce (lbw to the first ball of the match) and Carroll (7) did little to enhance their international prospects, and only Reinhardt Strydom (48), Alex Cusack (17) and last man Gary Kidd (25 off 33) made significant contributions to the Irish total.

Defeat was averted by a strong bowling performance which included 2-20 from Connell, 1-14 from Eaglestone, 2-16 from Cusack, 3-23 from Kidd and 2-21 from Andrew White. Denmark were again bowled out for 126 and Ireland won by 27 runs. Ireland A play MCC at Malahide from July 31st-August 2nd.

[TheBoss]

Should they have won by more, you think or more easily.

[Sheridan]

Wouldn't read that much into the second game, to be frank. The wicket at Muckamore is notoriously hazardous for batsmen, but very few clubs were willing to stage the second game. Bear in mind that it was Denmark's first XI versus Ireland's second string (albeit one containing several players with ODI experience.) The even distribution of wickets and Gary Kidd's performances with bat and ball were encouraging, but Joyce and Carroll's twin failures with the bat might spell the end of their international careers and leave Ireland with continued problems at the top of the order. It's a pity Bready's David Rankin (Boyd's brother) didn't get a run, he's a very promising batsman by all accounts.

[TheBoss]

Would they not try some more players of the U-19 winning side ?

[Sheridan]

They're otherwise engaged attempting to qualify for the World Cup via the Under 19 European Championship in NI at the moment. The just bowled the Netherlands out for 123 at Bangor.

[Jerry The Saint]

Reinhardt Strydom

The cricket lads have the best names :)

[onceahoop]

The cricket lads have the best names :)

Article in todays Fingal Independent about Strydom

[Sheridan]

Ireland Under-19s defeated Scotland in Belfast to win the European Championships and qualify for next year's U19 World Cup in Malaysia.

Set a stiff rain-revised target of 150 in 32 overs, Ireland paced their innings well, keeping plenty of wickets in hand and reaching 151-4 with thirteen balls to spare. Ben Ackland top scored with 71*.

[TheBoss]

Valuable experience for the lads cause I would say that most players in the U-19 will be involved with the Test Nations in the future.

[Sheridan]

North Down defeated rivals Waringstown by four wickets in the final of the NCU Challenge Cup at the weekend.

There are three changes to the Ireland A squad to face MCC at Malahide from tomorrow. Gary Wilson, Gary Kidd and Kenny Carroll are unavailable and will be replaced by Fintan McAllister (Rush), David Rankin (Bready) and U19 captain Greg Thompson.

The MCC XI includes three promising New South Wales players at university in England, as well as several other leading university cricketers and Andrew Balbirnie of Pembroke.