Irish Cricket 2008

[osarusan]

And for those of you who wonder why cricket has never really taken off in Ireland, here's a picture I took at one of our games in Marlay Park a few years ago

http://www.angelfire.com/sc/sandyfor...ges/s_snow.gif

I cant see that picture.

[Sheridan]

Ireland party for the tour of UAE and Bangladesh is as follows. Seventeen year-old Paul Stirling is included. He's currently away with the Ireland U19s who took an awful pasting (despite Stirling's 72) from New Zealand in a World Cup warm-up today. Porterfield replaces McCallan as vice-captain. Dunno why.

Trent Johnston (Railway Union) Captain
André Botha (North County)
Alex Cusack (Clontarf)
Philip Eaglestone (Strabane)
Thinus Fourie (Merrion)
Gary Kidd (Waringstown)
Kyle McCallan (Waringstown)
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex)
Kevin O'Brien (Railway Union)
Niall O'Brien (Northamptonshire)
William Porterfield (Gloucestershire) Vice-captain
Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire)
Paul Stirling (Cliftonville)
Reinhardt Strydom (North County)
Greg Thompson (Lisburn)

Phil Simmons - Coach
Gavin Craig - Manager
Mark McDonald - Physio
Peter Johnston - Video Analyst

[Sheridan]

Ireland U-19s lost heavily to England in their opening game at the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia this morning. Put in to bat, Ireland were bowled out for just 109 (Dougherty 34.) Taylor and Godleman knocked off the runs for England in just 15.5 overs as England won by ten wickets. This was a particularly disappointing performance as the Irish squad was heavily hyped and ran England very close at the last event. They next play Bangladesh on the 20th.

[OwlsFan]

Sneak preview of film about the Ireland's World Cup cricket exploits

http://www.irishcricketdoco.com/

[Sheridan]

Ireland are making predictably short work of the UAE's batting line-up on day one of the Intercontinental Cup game at Abu Dhabi. UAE won the toss and chose to bat. They're currently 138/6 (Langford-Smith 2-26, Johnston 2-16, Thompson 1-35, McCallan 1-7.)

Teenage opener Paul Stirling has been awarded his début after returning with some little credit from Ireland's disastrous Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia (they finished thirteenth.)

[Sheridan]

A stubborn stand of 97 for the seventh wicket boosted the UAE's total, but they subsequently collapsed from 218-6 to 228 all out. The wickets were shared around and no-one took more than two. Only the young legspinner Thompson took any kind of punishment (13-2-62-1) from the batsmen.

In response Ireland were 46-1 at close of play on day one (Porterfield 16, Morgan 21.) Stirling only managed 2 in his first knock for Ireland.

[Sheridan]

Ireland made it to 366-7 at close of play on day two. Should be in the bag. Niall O'Brien is unbeaten on 137* and shared in a partnership of 163 for the seventh wicket with Trent Johnston (69.)

[geysir]

Must be some good reasons why the UAE can't get a better team together out of a couple of million Indian & Pakistani's out there working.

[Sheridan]

In the end, it took Ireland all four scheduled days to complete a 9-wicket victory, thanks to a combination of injuries to key bowlers and an astonishing assault from UAE captain Saqib Ali, who racked up 195 of his team's second-innings 306. Cusack (who returned the remarkable figures of 16.2 overs, 7 maidens, 3-19) eventually had him caught by Morgan. That left Ireland needing 61 to win and they eased to victory for the loss of just Stirling (10.) Stand-in captain Porterfield scored 40*. They'll play UAE and Essex in two friendlies this coming week ahead of the three-match ODI series with Bangladesh. Worryingly, Johnston, Langford-Smith and Botha are all carrying knocks.

[TheBoss]

Stirling just needs some experience of 1st class cricket and I think he may have learned a lot in those innings despite not being out there long.

[Sheridan]

A young Ireland team is playing a non-cap 50-over international against an Abu Dhabi XI currently. A new opening partnership of Strydom and Stirling was given an opportunity, but neither managed a single run. Porterfield fell for 1, but Morgan came in next and hit 196* to help Ireland to 307-7 off their 50 overs. Only Niall O'Brien (45) and Alex Cusack (40) offered any support.

[OwlsFan]

Morgan came in next and hit 196* to help Ireland to 307-7 off their 50 overs.

Is that the highest ever score by an Irish player? I remember I was playing against Rush one day many years ago and young Morgan was brought along by his dad to watch. He was only a kid at the time but I was mightily impressed with what he could do with a bat and ball when messing on the sideline. Just shows genuine talent will manifest itself early on in life.

[Sheridan]

No, he scored 209* against UAE in a first-class match last year. This one doesn't count towards the records anyway as it's a non-cap international. In any case, it was two runs short of the previous record (Ivan Anderson's 198* against Canada in 1973.)

Abu Dhabi XI are currently 44-2 after 10 overs. Kevin O'Brien has taken 2-14 off five. Worryingly, the newcomer Eaglestone has gone for 25 off three.

[Sheridan]

The Abu Dhabi XI got worryingly close to the total as they were bowled out for 282 off 46.3 overs. Ireland XI won by 25 runs. Eaglestone was expensive at first but came back strongly to finish with 3-40. Kidd and Fourie took some punishment (0-52 and 1-58.) Kevin O'Brien took 3-48 and Greg Thompson 3-53.

[TheBoss]

That is a bit of a disappointing result, they will get hammered by Bangladesh next week if they continue like that.

[Sheridan]

TheBoss - I wouldn't be that bothered, none of the senior bowlers played and the pitch at the Sheikh Zayed stadium is very flat and good for batting. Worryingly, Cusack only bowled one over due to a groin problem.

[TheBoss]

Anywhere you can get the scorecard ?

[Sheridan]

At Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Ireland beat Abu Dhabi XI by 25 runs.

IRELAND XI
R Strydom run out 0
P Stirling c Taqir b Awais 0
W Porterfield c Taqir b Rizwan 1
E Morgan not out 196
N O’Brien lbw b Fayyaz 45
A Cusack run out 40
K O’Brien c b Qazi 2
T Fourie lbw b Qazi 0
G Thompson not out 1
Extras (1b 3lb 2nb 16w) 22
Total (50 overs, seven wickets) 307

Fall: 1-2 2-2 3-12 4-109 5-291 6-300 7-300

Did not bat: G Kidd, P Eaglestone.

Bowling: Awais Aftab 6-0-40-1, Rizwan Mustufa 4-0-27-1, G Nitten 8-0-31-0, A Qazi 7-0-53-2, A Fayyaz 10-0-47-1, Shadeep Silva 10-1-48-0, Rizak Khan 1-0-9-0, Saied Amjad 3-0-30-0, Kashia Butt 1-0-18-0.

ABU DHABI XI
Rizwan Khan c Kidd b Eaglestone 64
Gayan Silva c Morgan b K O’Brien 5
H Iftikhar c Morgan b K O’Brien 6
Imran Zia lbw b K O’Brien 0
Kashif Butt c N O’Brien b Fourie 0
G Nitten c Kidd b Thompson 39
Fayyaz Ahmed c Morgan b Thompson 72
Qazi Ayub c sub (McCallan) b Thompson 0
Saeed Sajjad c Thompson b Eaglestone 46
Tariq Javaid c Stirling b Eaglestone 29
Awais Aftab not out 2
Extras (2b 4lb 13w) 19
Total (46.3 overs) 282

Fall: 1-18 2-44 3-50 4-55 5-94 6-183 7-200 8-210 9-266

Bowling: P Eaglestone 8.3-0-40-3, K O’Brien 9-1-48-3, A Cusack 1-0-3-0, T Fourie 8-1-58-1, G Kidd 7-0-52-0, R Strydom 4-0-22-0, G Thompson 9-1-53-3.

[TheBoss]

Cheers.

It was like the World Cup the way they started, 3-12. Thompson looks to be a decent prospect always seems to get 2 or more wickets in a game.

[Sheridan]

Ireland XI beat Essex by 6 wickets in a 35 over game at Abu Dhabi today. Essex batted first, scoring 196-8. Ireland replied with 199-4, winning with 1.2 overs to spare. No batting or bowling figures yet.

10 overs were lost to prayers.

Scorecard now available. Note that both XIs fielded twelve players, in somewhat Irish fashion.

IRELAND XI V ESSEX XI

Played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
ESSEX
M Pettini c Johnston b Botha 84
J Gallian run out 21
V Chopra b Botha 7
J Foster c McCallan b Thompson 15
J Middlebrook c and b Fourie 8
G Flower c and b Thompson 2
T Phillips not out 24
G Napier c N O'Brien b Botha 8
T Westley c Fourie b Botha 9
M Westfield not out 5
Extras (1b 1lb 1nb 10w) 13
Total (35 overs, eight wickets) 196

Fall: 1-53 2-77 3-114 4-124 5-138 6-161 7-176 8-186

Bowling: D Langford-Smith 5-0-36-0, K O'Brien 6-1-28-0, T Fourie 6-0-37-1, A Botha 7-0-36-4, K McCallan 5-0-25-0, G Thompson 6-0-32-2.

IRELAND XI
W Porterfield c Phillips b Palladino 17
R Strydom b Phillips 73
P Stirling c Palladino b Phillips 26
E Morgan not out 57
N O'Brien lbw b Phillips 0
K O'Brien not out 12
Extras (1b 2lb 2nb 9w) 13
Total (33.4 overs four wickets) 199

Fall: 1-22 2-102 3-177 4-177

Did not bat: (T Johnston, A Botha, K McCallan, T Fourie, G Thompson.)

Bowling: M Westfield 6-0-29-0 T Palladino 5-0-45-1, C Wright 5-0-33-0, J Middlebrook 7-0-31-0, T Phillips 7-0-25-3, T Westley 3.4-0-33-0.

Ireland XI won by six wickets.