Ireland cricket team
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| Ireland | |
 |
|
| ICC membership granted | 1993 |
| ICC member status | Associate member with ODI status |
| ICC development region | Europe |
| Captain | Trent Johnston |
| World Cricket League division | One |
| European Cricket Championship division | One |
| First recorded match | 10 September 1855 v Gentlemen of England at Dublin |
| ICC Trophy | |
| Appearances | 4 (First in 1994) |
| Best result | Runners up, 2005 |
| One-day Internationals | |
| ODI matches played | 3 |
| ODI wins/losses | 1/1 |
| First class cricket | |
| First class matches played | 129 |
| First class wins/losses | 30/41 |
| List A cricket | |
| List A matches played | 72 |
| List A wins/losses | 16/50 |
| As of 9 September 2006 | |
The Ireland cricket team is the cricket team representing all Ireland (i.e. both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). Due to political difficulties, the Irish Cricket Union was not elected to the International Cricket Council until 1993, and qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2007. However, cricket has been played in Ireland since at least the 1880s [1] - including a tour of North America in 1888. Their first match with first-class status was played in 1902 against a London County side including W.G. Grace. The Irish won convincingly, by 238 runs.
Ireland's greatest cricketing success to date was in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, where a tie against Zimbabwe and a victory over Pakistan in the group matches qualified them for the "Super 8" stage of the tournament.
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[edit] History
After the 1902 tour of England, where four matches yielded one win, two draws and one loss, the Irish didn't play first-class cricket again for five years (although London County visited again in 1903 and drew. [2]). The Irish were soundly beaten on home soil, by Yorkshire and South Africa, suggesting that there was still quite a gap in class.
The Irish played yearly first-class games with the Scots with regularity, only interrupted by wars, up until 1999, but all their other cricket was dictated by whenever touring international sides would find it convenient to visit Ireland. However, they often surprised Test nations in these games, winning by 60 runs in a 3-day game in Dublin over the West Indies in 1928, for example. They did, in fact, take a liking to the West Indies - their arguably finest cricketing moment came in 1969, when they defeated a West Indian side including Clive Lloyd and Clyde Walcott (who admittedly was 43 at the time) by nine wickets, after bowling them out for 25. The match was played at Sion Mills in County Tyrone.
The Scots and the Irish were arguably competing with Sri Lanka for the title as best non-Test nation at the time - indeed, Ireland drew with Sri Lanka in a rain-hit first-class match in 1979, Ireland scoring a total of 341 for seven wickets in two innings while Sri Lanka made 288 for six wickets in one innings. However, the ICC refused to include them until 1993, and the following year they competed in the ICC Trophy. However, their good players of the 1960s and 1970s were gone by now, and they lost four of seven games to finish seventh in the tournament.
Four years later in Malaysia, they squeezed through to the semi-finals after a good showing in the group stage, but lost by seven runs to Kenya after Justin Benson, who had played county cricket for Leicestershire, had slowed down proceedings with an 85-ball 35. As Ireland needed 216 runs from 50 overs (300 balls) to win, that left the other batsmen to hit very, very quickly, and that was not possible. To compound their misery, they lost the third place play-off with Scotland, thus missing a place at the 1999 cricket World Cup.
The 2001 tournament in Canada showed the batting skills of Ed Joyce, who ended up with a batting average of 71.80 in eight innings, including four fifties. Joyce, who had been signed by Middlesex two years earlier, could not save the team from a number of defeats, however. They lost to the USA by six wickets in the first match in Canada, and also lost to Denmark by 12 runs. In the end, the Irish lost five matches, finishing seventh in the tournament.
The 2005 ICC Trophy, which was hosted in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland - the group stages in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the final stages in Dublin, Republic of Ireland - has seen the Irish improve drastically, however. Ed Joyce's four years in county cricket, where he earlier in 2005 became the first batsman to hit 1,000 runs, gave him the experience to lift the Irish to big totals (he averaged 106 in four innings for the Irish), and even when he left for County Championship games with Middlesex, they managed to win, taking a four-wicket thriller over Canada thanks to Peter Gillespie, who hit a career highest score in the ICC Trophy with 64 not out - his first fifty - to anchor their chase to 239. Earlier, South African-born Andre Botha had taken four wickets for 47 runs against. Indeed, their bowling was often the key in this tournament, but former Essex player Adrian McCoubrey was in fact one of the least penetrative. However, that bowling let them down in the final against Scotland, as they conceded a total of 324 for 9 after electing to bowl first. The return of Joyce did not help them, as he made 81, but the Irish still lost the match by 47 runs.
Ireland have had a busy period in their build up to the World Cup. From April, they took part in a newly expanded C&G Trophy, playing nine English county sides. For this tournament, they were bolstered by the signings of Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi, the two overseas players they are allowed when competing in English domestic competitions. Ireland recorded one win (at Bristol against Gloucestershire)in their 9 matches, though they lost the remainder.
In May, they started their defence of the Intercontinental Cup, with a five-wicket win against Namibia (who beat Nepal) at Clontarf 17-20 May, 2006. This was followed by a drawn game against Scotland in August.
Ireland's first official One-day International was played in Belfast (at Northern Ireland Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont) against England on 13 June 2006. It was the first time Ireland have played the full England side. Tickets sold well for the game, with a full house of 7,500 attendees.
Marcus Trescothick scored a century as England, scoring 301 for 7 from their 50 overs, overcame a gritty and proud Irish team who made 263 for 9 from their allotment, including 52 from Andre Botha in his first full One-day International. Two months later, Ireland recorded their first ODI win, beating fellow Associates Scotland by 85 runs after Eoin Morgan made 99. Ireland also received a valuable 5-figure sum from Vodafone, who sponsored the game. [3] The game was televised live on BBC Two Northern Ireland.
August saw them participate in Division One of the European Championship, against Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands and Scotland. The games against The Netherlands and Scotland had ODI status. They won this tournament, and the Irish teams won the European Championships at every single age level, from Under 13s upwards.
[edit] Cricket in 2007
[edit] World Cup Squad
In August 2006, the Irish Cricket Union named their squad for the 2007 World Cup.[4]
- Trent Johnston (captain)
- Andre Botha
- Jeremy Bray
- Kenny Carroll
- Peter Gillespie
- Dave Langford-Smith
- Kyle McCallan
- John Mooney
- Paul Mooney
- Eoin Morgan
- Kevin O'Brien
- Niall O'Brien
- William Porterfield
- Boyd Rankin
- Andrew White
The team is managed by Roy Torrens.
[edit] Matches before the World Cup
January 2007 saw the start of more than 3 months of almost constant cricket. First was a visit to Kenya, where they took part in Division One of the ICC World Cricket League. They then traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where they played an Intercontinental Cup game against the UAE at Abu Dhabi.
In the final 13-a-side warm-up matches before the World Cup, Ireland lost to South Africa, but only by 35 runs; and beat Canada comfortably by 7 wickets.
[edit] The World Cup
Ireland are having an excellent World Cup. Their first game was on March 15 when they tied with Zimbabwe, primarily thanks to Ireland's first ever World Cup century by Jeremy Bray and economical bowling in the final overs by Trent Johnston and Andre Botha; the Zimbabweans were dismissed for 221 off the last ball of the innings (Ed Rainsford run out) with the scores level.
In their second match, played on Saint Patrick's Day, they beat the fourth-ranked team in the world, Pakistan, by three wickets, thus knocking Pakistan out of the competition.
These two results were sufficient to advance Ireland to the "Super 8" stage of the tournament. Their final group stage game was against the West Indies, where they lost by eight wickets.
[edit] After the World Cup
After the World Cup, Ireland will play in the ECB Trophy against nine county sides throughout May and June, and in July will play two triangular series, one against the Netherlands and the West Indies, the other against the Netherlands and Scotland. This will be followed by the inaugural European Twenty20 Championship. In August they will play home ICC Intercontinental Cup games against Scotland and Bermuda.
[edit] Tournament History
[edit] World Cup
The 2007 tournament is the first for Ireland. They have qualified for the Super 8
[edit] Intercontinental Cup
- 2004: First round
- 2005: Won
[edit] ICC 6 Nations Challenge
- 2000: 3rd place
- 2002: Did not participate
- 2004: Did not participate
[edit] ICC Trophy
- 1979 to 1990 inclusive: Not eligible - Not an ICC member.
- 1994: Second round
- 1997: 4th place
- 2001: 7th place
- 2005: Runners up
[edit] European Championship
- 1996: Won
- 1998: 3rd place
- 2000: 4th place (Division One)
- 2002: 3rd place
- 2004: Division One runners up
- 2006: Won
[edit] Triple Crown
- 1993: 2nd place
- 1994: 3rd place
- 1995: 3rd place
- 1996: Won
- 1997: 3rd place
- 1998: 3rd place
- 1999: 4th place
- 2000: 2nd place
- 2001: 4th place
[edit] English county competition
Ireland, along with Scotland, has at times played in competitions for English county cricket sides, including the Benson & Hedges Cup and the Friends Provident Trophy. Since there is no nationality restriction in county cricket, non-Irish players have competed for Ireland in these matches. Hansie Cronje of South Africa competed for Ireland in the 1997 Benson & Hedges Cup, thanks to sponsorship from Irish industrialist Tony O'Reilly.
[edit] Records
[edit] One-day Internationals
- Highest team total: 274 v The Netherlands, 8 August 2006 at Cambusdoon New Ground, Ayr, Scotland
- Highest individual innings: 142, Kevin O'Brien v Kenya, 2 February 2007 at Ruaraka Sports Club Ground Nairobi, Kenya[5]
- Best innings bowling: 4/32, Kyle McCallan v Kenya, 2 February 2007 at Ruaraka Sports Club Ground Nairobi, Kenya[6]
[edit] ICC Trophy
- Highest team total: 315/8 v Bermuda, 1 July 2005 at Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Highest individual innings: 127 not out, Alan Lewis v Gibraltar, 24 March 1997 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Best innings bowling: 5/25, Derek Heasley v Papua New Guinea, 6 July 2001 at G Ross Lord Park, Toronto, Canada
[edit] First Class
- Highest team total: 531/5 declared v UAE, 11 February 2007, ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Abu Dhabi
- Highest individual innings: 209 not out, Eoin Morgan v UAE, 11 February 2007, ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Abu Dhabi
[edit] See also
- Irish women's cricket team
- Irish Cricket Union
- CricketArchive
- Cricinfo - Ireland
- History of Irish Cricket book
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.cricketeurope.net/CRICKETIRELAND/DATABASE/HISTORY/MURPHY/01.shtml
- ^ http://www.cricketeurope.net/CRICKETIRELAND/DATABASE/HISTORY/MURPHY/02.shtml
- ^ http://www.cricketeurope2.net/DATABASE/ARTICLES/articles/000022/002263.shtml
- ^ Ireland name World Cup squad, from Cricinfo, retrieved 25 August 2006
- ^ Ireland ODI Career Highest Individual Scores. Cricinfo.com. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.
- ^ Ireland ODI Career Best Individual Bowling Figures. Cricinfo.com. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.
