CRICKET WORLD TWENTY20 TOURNAMENT:JOHNSTON, MOONEY and a pair of O'Briens helped Ireland turn over Bangladesh for a second straight World Cup as they baked up another treat to secure a massive, six-wicket victory in Nottingham yesterday.
In truth, though, this performance was more about the sum of the ingredients than individual showings as Phil Simmons’s side booked their place in the Super Eights of the competition, sending Bangladesh home after what has been a miserable World Twenty20 tournament.
It also sets up a fascinating battle against defending champions India here tomorrow night and a chance to add another Asian side to the list of conquests over recent years.
The win over Pakistan in Kingston two years ago was as fraught as any sporting victory. In comparison, the joy in watching Ireland hunt down the 138 runs they required for victory yesterday came in the sense of calm purveyed by the batsmen and the unbridled joy of the travelling hordes of Blarney Army supporters cheering as every run ticked up on the board.
Niall O’Brien was the hero at Sabina Park, and yet again the 27-year-old from Sandymount showed his liking for the biggest of occasions with another man-of-the-match performance.
The steeliest of competitors, O’Brien blasted three sixes off five balls from Bangladesh’s top strike bowler, Mashrafe Mortaza, and scored 29 runs in just two overs to move Ireland from 18 for one to 47 after a slow start to their reply.
That he did so with an injured ankle picked up towards the end of the Bangladesh innings added to the measure of a young man who thrives on adversity and a backs-to-the-wall mentality.
O’Brien had also proved effective with the gloves, pulling off a remarkable stumping of all-rounder Mahmudullah, who in lifting his back foot for a millisecond gave the Northamptonshire player just time to pounce.
It was the highlight of a fine fielding performance, which included a personal tour de force from former skipper Trent Johnston, who rolled back the years with a display of guts and no little guile.
The 35-year-old struck with just his second ball, when the dangerous Junaid Siddique launched him skywards after making 13 from just five deliveries. When the ball finally made it down, it landed in the safe paws of Jeremy Bray at short fine leg.
He should have added the Bangladeshi skipper Mohammad Ashraful in his next over, only to see his Railway Union clubmate Kevin O’Brien spill a chance at first slip.
The pint-sized batsman made Ireland pay in the next over as he clubbed Boyd Rankin for 12 runs, including the game’s first six.
Relief and retribution came shortly for the pair as O’Brien made no mistake second time around when Johnston forced Ashraful into another edge after he had made 14.
That brought the world’s top-ranked ODI all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan to the crease, but Johnston ensured his was the briefest of visits as he struck again with the first ball of his final over, with Gary Wilson rock solid under another skier at widish long-on.
Johnston finished with figures of three for 20 off his four overs, a brilliant return for a player who at one stage retired from international cricket after a 3-0 series defeat away to Bangladesh.
That he took out their top three batsmen, so often the source of their blistering starts, with just 50 runs on the board, must have run him close to the man-of-the-match honours.
What followed though was equally impressive as Ireland’s spin attack of Kyle McCallan and Regan West, allied with Alex Cusack’s wily medium pace, tied down the Bangladeshi middle order.
That they failed to score a boundary between the seventh and 19th overs, a sequence of 71 deliveries, was truly immense, as were the 42 dot balls bowled.
Mortaza did add a bit of grunt late on, hitting 33 off 15 balls and ruining Cusack’s figures by taking 20 off the final over, including two massive sixes, as their innings closed on 137 for eight.
It made Ireland’s task that little bit harder, and Jeremy Bray’s early departure for just two had Ireland’s supporters fretting just a little.
Bray came back in to run for the limping Niall O’Brien, but he spent most of the time admiring his leg-side sixes off Mortaza, before he eventually holed out for 40 off 25 balls and brought an end to a 55-run second-wicket stand that put Ireland in the box seat.
Skipper William Porterfield (23) and Gary Wilson (10) would also depart, before Kevin O’Brien (39 off 17) and John Mooney (17) banished any remaining nerves as they brought Ireland home with 10 balls to spare in an unbroken partnership of 49.
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