Ireland cash in on rain check

IRELAND literally stormed to victory over Holland in the first of their three ICC Trophy "quarter-final" group matches, because of a system designed by an English academic and his statistician colleague.

When Messrs Duckworth and Lewis began their painstaking quest to devise a more balanced way of deciding which team, if either, wins a game spoiled by rain, it was matches like yesterday's at the Kelab Aman ground that they had in mind.

Holland had put a respectable but none-too-daunting 211 for 8 on the board and Ireland were 73 for 2 from 17 overs in reply when a shower took the players from the field for an hour.

All eyes in the Ireland camp turned to Murray Power, who is revered for his understanding of how the new Duckworth-Lewis charts work, as well as for his prowess behind the scorebook.

"The first thing to realise is that unless 20 overs are howled there will be no result," Power announced. "If we do get to 20 overs and have only lost two wickets we'll need 68 runs, if we lose another wicket we'll need 80 runs and so on." On the resumption Alan Lewis was immediately caught behind off the bowling of Andre van Troost and, with heavy rain only minutes away, Ireland could not afford to lose another wicket.

Angus Dunlop and Neil Doak dug in, eked out a couple of singles and were assisted by wides and no balls from van Troost, the former Somerset paceman, who was once possibly the fastest white bowler in the world, and certainly the most erratic.

At 91 for 3 after 23 overs, the umpires led the players from the field to the barely contained delight of the Irish team who had been informed by Power that the Englishmen's charts showed them to be five runs ahead of the Dutch. The rain bucketed down, pools appeared on the outfield and after waiting for what seemed an age to Ireland's loyal band of supporters, the umpires abandoned the match.

A neutral would conclude that Holland were unlucky. Ireland still had a lot of work to do without Decker Curry, out for a breezy 30 off 32 balls, and captain Justin Benson, adjudged to have been caught behind off what might have been his thigh pad.

But the English boffins probably got it right. Ireland's best bowling performance to date had first dealt with two pinch-hitters, their pegged Holland back in mid-innings and finally contained their last-ditch assault.

Only Australian Peter Cantrell with 53 not out, was a prolonged threat as coach Mike Headrick's seam battery started to share some of the load with spinners Doak and Garfield Harrison. Peter Gillespie responding to the responsibility of opening the attack took 2 for 2 from nine sharp overs, Ryan Eagleson bowled clusters of good balls and Paul McCrum kept it straight and hit the stumps twice in a crucial last four overs.

Only (wide of the) Mark Patter. son, who conceded nearly six an over, continues to worry Hendrick, who named an unchanged side for today's match with Bangladesh.

While supporters burst into song and began to talk of facing Scotland next week for a place in the World Cup finals, more sober voices suggested that if Bangladesh are not beaten by Ireland the group could still finish in a three-way tie.

If that happens and run-rate is to decide the two to advance into the semi-finals, Ireland know they will get the best advice of any team in the tournament.

The Power is with them.