Ireland overcome imposing Netherlands target with ease
By Suhrid Barua
Kolkata: Mar 18, 2011
Ireland have done enough at this World Cup to command respect among the established nations. Friday’s win over Netherlands was only a further consolidation of that line of thinking.
The men in green dished out a thoroughly professional performance to overwhelm Netherlands in their final World Cup league game to maintain the recent dominance over their opponents; it was their sixth win over the Dutch in eight head-to-head one-day encounters. The victory arrived in Ireland’s 50th One-Day International.
Ireland owe their win to the massive 177-run opening stand between Paul Stirling and captain William Porterfield.
Stirling batted as if he was in a tearing hurry to chase down the target of 307. His first scoring shot was an ungainly one; he tried to pull Mudassar Bukhari through mid-wicket but only contrived to get a top-edge that flew over the slips and over the ropes at third-man for the maximum.
After that, everything he played found the middle of the bat as the ball kept hurtling to all parts of the Eden Gardens. If his first scoring shot of Bukhari was a streaky one – one could only applaud at his audacity –he stepped out to the bowler and bludgeoned him to the mid-wicket boundary – soaring confidence of a man who was out there with a mission – a mission to kill off the game.
Stirling also acquitted himself well against spinner Adeel Raja – he peppered the cover region for two more boundaries to leave the bowler deflated – after he had bowled a maiden opening over.
He spared none of the Netherlands bowlers. Bernard Loots was taken for fours boundaries and a six in his first two overs while Ryan ten Doeschate was picked out for three boundaries in the 23rd over.
Stirling was providing fulsome entertainment to his captain Porterfield at the other end who played second fiddle to the rampaging right-hander.
Porterfield got off a shaky start and survived on one when Adeel Raja put down a sitter at third-man after the batsman mistimed a pull shot.
Stirling’s aggression rubbed off on Porterfield. A thumping cover drive off Raja lent the seal of confirmation to that. The century stand was soon brought up in the 16th over and Netherlands didn’t have any answer to the questions asked by the Irish top-order.
Stirling was closing in on his maiden World Cup century but was deprived of the opportunity of celebrating the moment with his captain – Porterfield went back to essay a cut shot off a Tom Cooper delivery that bounced more than expected, taking his outside edge en route to wicketkeeper Atse Buurman.
Stirling arrived at his three-figure mark with a couple off Peter Seelaar but two balls later, pulling one and holed out to Alexei Kervezee at deep mid-wicket.
Netherlands had their opportunity to fight back but Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien nullified all such thoughts with a solid half-century stand to take their side closer to victory.
O’Brien collected a handy half-century and together with brother Kevin administered the final rites.
Earlier, Ryan ten Doeschate justified why a strokemaker like him should be allowed to play as many overs as possible. He soon brought out his whole range to the fore.
A shuffle across the stumps and flick over mid-wicket followed by a crunching drive through the covers off Trent Johnston showed the confidence Doeschate was brimming with.
One shot that had class written all over it – a punch off the backfoot off John Mooney that pierced the gap between mid-off and cover and streaked to the boundary.
He was untroubled by the wickets that tumbled at the other end. But it was his stand with captain Peter Borren that saw the Netherland innings take off.
The Doeschate-Borren century stand sucked the fight out of the Ireland attack. Doeschate stepped into fifth gear once he reached the seventies. A flurry of boundaries in the 38th and 39th overs saw him close in on a century which he duly reached when he got a couple off Rankin.
It was his fifth One-Day International century and his second in this World Cup. The 121-run partnership was brought to end when Doeschate holed out to John Mooney off Paul Stirling for 106.
Borren played an equally valuable knock. He exhibited some cheeky shots – an upper cut over the slips off Boyd Rankin threw enough indication that Borren was determined to make his day under sun. He continued to provide the momentum after Doeschate’s exit, and just when it looked as if a second century was on the cards, the Dutch skipper fell to Mooney for 84.
Brief Scores: Netherlands 306 all out in 50 overs (Ryan ten Doeschate 106, Peter Borren 84; Paul Stirling 2 for 51, John Mooney 2 for 59) lost to Ireland 307 for 4 in 47.4 overs (Paul Stirling 101, William Porterfield 68, Niall O’Brien 59*) by 4 wickets.
Man of the Match: Paul Stirling.
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