CRICKET/ICC Trophy: A magnificent innings of concentration, impeccable shot-selection and steely nerves from Peter Gillespie saw Ireland though to their first ICC Trophy final with a tense victory over Canada at Castle Avenue on Saturday.
The Strabane man seems to thrive on high-pressure situations, and when he came to the wicket after the fall of the fifth wicket, Ireland still needed 141 runs at more than a run a ball. But with Trent Johnston and, later, Andy White, Gillespie set mini-targets and maturely went about knocking off the runs. He eventually ended up unbeaten on 64 for perhaps the most satisfying innings of his international career.
Sounds easy, but the Castle Avenue crowd was treated to a thrilling finish as Ireland still needed 19 to win off the last 14 balls. Gillespie then coolly hit the last two balls of the 48th over for four and six to take the pressure off.
In the end, White hit the winning runs (a straight six off Umar Bhatti) with four balls to spare, and now Ireland will take on old rivals Scotland in Wednesday's final.
There had been talk that Ireland had been relying too much on Ed Joyce in this competition, with the Middlesex batsman compiling more than 300 runs in four knocks. So with Joyce returning to his county for Saturday's game, it was vital that other players take up the slack. And they did.
"We are never beat. We bat the whole way down and we never give up," said a clearly elated Gillespie. "If it wasn't me, it could have been any number of players, because we have all been drilled," he said. "Ed is fantastic and we are glad to have had him. He has put in some great performances, but we knew we weren't doing ourselves justice as a team. We knew we were better than how we were playing and it was time to show that," he added.
It looks like Joyce will be back for the final in what could be his last game for Ireland. A win on Wednesday would be the perfect farewell.
It was good also to see captain Jason Molins making a few runs. He has been out of sorts of late and he battled hard to get to 44 before being clean bowled by a quicker one from Kevin Sandher. Johnston, too, did his bit, scoring at his usual brisk pace before being caught at deep midwicket, also for 44.
Earlier, after John Davison had got the Canadians off to a flyer, Andre Botha was the main wicket-taker with four, but there were also fine performances from Kyle McCallan (1-25 off 10 overs) and Johnston (2-54) as Canada made 238 for 9.
After a gruelling six matches in eight days, the players can now rest up for Wednesday's final, also in Castle Avenue. They will play Scotland, who had a comfortable win over Bermuda in the other semi-final in Milverton.
Meanwhile, today the Netherlands and the UAE play off for fifth place and the remaining qualification spot for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. Play in that match gets under way in Castle Avenue at 10.45am.
ICC TROPHY - Semi-final (at Castle Avenue)
CANADA
D Chumney b McCallan 35
J Davison lbw Johnston 33
Z Surkari c Bray b Botha 31
I Billcliff c Bray b Botha 0
S Dhaniram b Johnston 35
P Dassanayake run out 22
D Maxwell c Morgan b Botha 32
G Codrington lbw b Cooke 16
S Thuraisingham b Botha 0
K Sandher not out 7
U Bhatti not out 2
Extras (1b, 10lb, 6nb, 8w) 25
Total (for 9, 50 overs) ... 238
Fall of wickets: 46, 114, 114, 114, 170, 181, 221, 222, 233.
Bowling: P Mooney 9-1-40-0, T Johnston 10-1-54-2, A Botha 9-1-47-4, K McCallan 10-1-25-1, G Cooke 8-2-35-1, A White 4-0-26-0.
IRELAND
J Molins b Sandher 44
J Bray c Sandher b Thuraisingham 20
D Joyce run out 5
A Botha c Dassanayake b Sandher 15
T Johnston c Dhaniram b Sandher 44
P Gillespie not out 64
A White not out 28
Extras (3b, 5lb, 2w, 1nb) 11
Total (for 6, 49.2 overs) 241
Fall of wickets: 12, 41, 60, 97, 106, 171.
Did not bat: P Mooney, G Cooke.
Bowling: Bhatti 8.2-0-53-0, Thuraisingham 10-3-47-2, Dhaniram 5-0-31-0, Maxwell 4-0-13-0, Davison 10-3-26-0, Sandher 10-0-46-3, Codrington 2-0-17-0.
Ireland won by 4 wickets.
