CRICKET ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL:THE CHOICE of the Croke Park Hotel as a place of lodging the night before may not have been the wisest, but unlike many of its other residents, Ireland showed no sign of a hangover at Castle Avenue yesterday as they beat Canada by 133 runs in the first of two World Cup qualifiers.
Up to last week these were just plain old Intercontinental Cup one-day clashes, but with the top two in the eight-team tournament now earning automatic qualification for the 2015 World Cup, the importance of these games has been ramped up significantly.
A win in the second game today will put Ireland on a full eight points from four games and provide a great end to what has been an incredible season for the international side.
Of course the highlight came with the remarkable World Cup victory over England in Bangalore back in March, and yesterday saw Ireland’s batsmen again enjoy themselves after being put into bat on a grey and overcast morning.
With Ireland back to full strength, it was always going to be a huge task for the visiting team, but they didn’t help themselves with some atrocious ground fielding as Ireland made 328 for six off their 50 overs.
That was just one run short of the record ODI score of 329 made in Bangalore and three more than they made in the last meeting at this level in Toronto last September.
Paul Stirling was the hero on that occasion with a sensational knock of 177 and the Middlesex batsman also scored a century in last week’s four-day game against them in Rathmines.
Opening alongside Ed Joyce, the hard-hitting right-hander could only manage a rapid 26 before offering a return catch to Harvir Baidwan.
That brought skipper William Porterfield to the wicket and he and Joyce added 119 in 133 balls to provide the backbone of the innings.
Porterfield went for 67 and Joyce fell 12 runs short of what would have been the first century of his second coming for Ireland to leave the score on 204 for three with 14 overs to go.
Niall O’Brien made 37, while the real impetus late on came from younger brother, Kevin, who hit 35 from 15 balls and a fine unbeaten 56 off 36 from Gary Wilson.
Playing for the first time since the defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh in July, Trent Johnston took two wickets in his fourth over to make inroads into the Canada top order, while John Mooney kept up his fine form with the ball in taking four wickets for 27, his best figures for Ireland, as Canada were bowled out for 195 in the 49th over.
Meanwhile Stirling will have a fitness test this morning. He left the pitch after taking a hard knock to the shoulder he injured in last week’s four-day game.
CASTLE AVENUE SCOREBOARD
Canada won the toss and fielded
IRELAND
E Joyce c Cheema b Zahid 88
P Stirling cb Baidwan 26
W Porterfield c Zahid b Siddiqui 67
N O’Brien c Siddiqui b Chohan37
G Wilson not out 56
K O’Brien cb Chohan 35
J Mooney c Siddiqui b Chohan10
T Johnston not out 3
Extras(b1, lb3, w2) 6
Total(for 6 wkts, 50 overs)328
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-162, 3-204, 4-241, 5-288, 6-309.
Did not bat: A Cusack, G Dockrell, B Rankin.
Bowling: K Chohan 10-0-65-3; H Baidwan 10-0-75-1; R Cheema 7-0-52-0; Z Hussain 10-0-57-1; J Hansra 5-0-30-0; J Siddiqui 6-0-35-1; H Patel 2-0-10-0.
CANADA
H Patel c N O’Brien b Johnston 20
N Kumar b Mooney 26
R Gunasekera c N O’Brien b Johnston 0
U Limbada c Wilson b Rankin 50
J Hansra b Dockrell 12
R Cheema c Wilson b Mooney 36
H Tariq c K O’Brien b Cusack 4
J Siddiqui c sub (White) b K O’Brien 10
H Baidwan c sub (White) b Mooney 8
K Chohan c Dockrell b Mooney 5
Z Hussain not out 7
Extras(b7, lb2, w8) 17
Total(all out, 48.4 overs) 195
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-34, 3-63, 4-113, 5-140, 6-162, 7-165, 8-178, 9-185.
Bowling: B Rankin 8-0-50-1; T Johnston 5-2-14-2; A Cusack 7-0-32-1; J Mooney 8.4-1-27-4; G Dockrell 10-0-31-1; P Stirling 6-0-27-0; K O'Brien 4-1-5-1.
Ireland won by 133 runs.
