Irish Cricket 2007

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

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.

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

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

EDIT: 3 Down now, in the 11th Over

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

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.

84/7

At least they are giving 100%

Lost by 42 runs.

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.

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..?

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.)

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.

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

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.

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

Originally Posted by pete

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/irela...ry/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

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.)

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?

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.

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

Thanks for that Sheridan.