Ireland trundle to defeat

Ireland's so-called Provincial X1 clasped caution to its collective bosom yesterday at Malahide to lose the same number of wickets - four - as Bangladesh, but also to forfeit the match by six wickets.

This was an experimental team, but the mixture of new blood was well laced with a goodly dash of international experience.

A better end result than this emphatic defeat was understandably expected as Ireland batted first and the captain, Kyle McCallan, and Neil Carson put on 79 for the first wicket, much like the platform of 74 which they had provided in last Friday's victory at Waringstown. But neither they, nor the other batsmen, were subsequently able or willing to attack the bowling and hurry the score along.

Hurry? Trundle is more apt; the fact that Carson's top-score of 65 came off 163 balls is illustrative. That statistic indicates that he faced almost 100 deliveries from which he failed to score: the run rate was indeed stagnant.

Certainly, the outfield was slow. But neither the Bangladeshi attack nor the fielding warranted the respect afforded by the reserved Irish, of whom the main run-stealers, besides Carson, were McCallan, and Ed Joyce, who hit an undefeated 39.

Ireland's total of 194 for four off the 50 overs didn't look anything like enough. But the early removal of Mohammed Rafique in the second over, with only a single on the board, kept Irish hopes alive.

The three other wickets which fell were hard-earned; a spilled catch, a botched run-out attempt and genereal ennui in the field didn't help. Aminul Islam and the skipper, Akram Khan, put on 103 for the fourth wicket, Khan scoring an unbeaten half-century from 85 balls, with four fours and a six.

The end came for the Provincial X1 with nine balls to spare. Hopefully, things will go with a little bit more style in tomorrow's full international at Rathmines; the team, announced yesterday, shows four changes compared to the side which won at Waringstown.

Angus Dunlop, Ed Joyce, Paul McCrum and Matt Dwyer come in for Stephen Smyth, Gordon Gooke, Neil Anderson and Paul Mooney; Smyth and Cooke were not available. Dunlop resumes the captaincy from Alan Rutherford.