As expected, the West Indies (minus the injured Chris Gayle) finished the group stages with a win against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and as a result progressed to the quarterfinals. In my opinion, they certainly haven’t played the cricket that deserves a quarterfinal spot, so seeing Ireland missing out with three wins on net run-rate leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but that’s life!
Today’s fixture between Ireland and Pakistan brought back some incredible memories. St Patrick’s Day 2007 was the day that changed Irish cricket forever. I will never forget the reception leaving the hotel, the sea of green en route and having the support of my wife, my kids and my parents in the crowd. The party afterwards with family, friends and Ireland’s loyal supporters in the Sunset Grande, Ocho Rios and, of course, the news that shocked the cricketing world, the death of Bob Woolmer. It’s hard to believe that eight years have passed.
Knowing how flat the Adelaide wicket has been this year, I wondered what Ireland would do if they won the toss. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had chosen to bowl first, but I was glad when they opted to bat, as this has been their strength throughout the tournament. At the toss it looked like a 260 plus wicket and it was always going to be a contest between Ireland’s batting and Pakistan’s bowling. This time around Pakistan got the cash, even without the dangerous Mohammad Irfan who was deemed unfit to play.
The first 25 overs passed with both teams trading blows, but none of them knockouts. Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien came and went during this period and Rahat Ali took a valuable two wickets for Pakistan. William Porterfield made his 12th ODI 50 off 59 balls and looked determined to produce a skipper’s knock. The wicket looked a little slow which should have suited the Irish bowlers in the second innings.
When Andrew Balbirnie went for 18 in the 30th over it was left to the skipper whose previous highest World Cup score (85) came in the victory over Bangladesh in 2007. Porterfield made his way to his first World Cup ton, and first hundred against a Full Member, but failed to push on to a bigger score.
Ireland’s strong finish never materialised as Porterfield (107), Gary Wilson (29) and Stuart Thompson (12) all went in the space of five overs. When the fifth wicket fell, Kevin O’Brien came to the crease. However, he only faced 16 deliveries out of the next 50 balls and failed to make any real impact, which proved costly.
Credit must go to the Pakistani bowlers who restricted Ireland to 237, only allowing 48 runs off the last 10 overs on a very good wicket.
Early wickets were necessary if Ireland were to successfully defend this modest total. This didn’t happen unfortunately, with the first wicket not falling until the 23rd over, with Stuart Thompson the bowler.
This opening partnership of 120 laid a strong foundation for victory. Ireland never gave up though, and a good run-out to Balbirnie/Dockrell kept hope alive. Sarfraz Ahmed appeared to be trying his best to run-out everyone he batted with but was joined at the crease by his captain Misbah-ul-Haq, batting in what I think is his best position of No.4. His cool head settled things down very quickly.
When Sarfraz and Misbah brought up their 50-run partnership, Pakistan required just 60 runs from 90 deliveries. Pakistan’s next 30 runs came at a run-a-ball. Finally, Alex Cusack got the wicket of Misbah for 39 when he stepped back on his stumps.
Was there to be a final twist in this crunch game?
The answer was no and the only thing left to work out was whether Sarfraz was going to reach his hundred. Playing only his second game of this World Cup, Sarfraz collected consecutive player of the match awards with his first ODI hundred coming off 120 balls and including six boundaries. The theatre that played out in the attempt to reach his century resulted in a disappointing and fairly farcical finish to the game.
I can’t fault the effort of the Irish bowling unit, but on a flat wicket they just lacked that extra pace to trouble the Pakistan batting line up. Ireland never gave up the fight in the field and this will never change.
Ireland has moved from 12th to 11th in the ICC Rankings after their performances in this World Cup. However, it is Pakistan who will now stay in Adelaide and take on Australia in five days’ time.
Continued investment from the ICC, further opportunities such as meaningful tours and fixtures will see results continually improve for Ireland and their Associate brothers.
Courtesy: ICC
(Trent Johnston fulfilled his ambitions of playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup by helping Ireland qualify for its maiden World Cup in 2007. In a historic World Cup debut he lead his side to a tied match against Zimbabwe before then hitting the winning runs to send Pakistan tumbling out of the tournament. In the Super Eight stage, Ireland defeated Bangladesh to earn a place in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings. Overall, Johnston played 67 ODIs in which he scored 743 runs, taking 66 wickets)
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