...but they earned a lot of praise for their gutsy performances in the face of adversity. Unfortunately the early batsmen failed to get the team off to a good start in both games and it was catch-up thereafter. You have to have sympathy for skipper William Porterfield who boldly elected to bat first against the mighty Australians, but then mistimed a hook off the first ball and was caught. Many openers would have hidden from the responsibility of facing the first ball against the West Indies and there were plenty of website “experts” re-arranging the batting order to soften the captain’s ignominy, but William is no quitter and in true Donemana style he boldly stepped into the breach once again only to outdone by a Fidel Edwards beauty. It was rough justice, but character building for the tough little opener who will certainly bounce back. Porterfield is a class act and he has plenty to offer Ireland going forward.
It is a measure of Ireland’s progress that both Australia and the West Indies approached the games with 100% commitment and respect. Long gone are the days when these were mis-matches and although both test teams were odds-on favourites to win, they were also aware of the possibility of an upset. Ireland didn’t do themselves justice against the Aussies, but they did enough to get under their skin and “rent-a-mouth” Warner championed their verbals and showed that although their team has plenty of cricket talent it lacks class. Gary Wilson gave plenty back, and it was good to see that our players are confident enough to mix sledging with the big boys even if it is not cricket.
The opening defeat and Australia’s Duckworth-Lewis victory over the West Indies set up a classic winner-take-all match for Ireland, which was the best we could have hoped for from the outset. Obviously Porterfield’s early dismissal was a huge setback, but in Twenrty20 cricket the regular fall of wickets is inevitable. Stirling and Joyce rallied before departing and then Wilson, the O’Brien brothers, Johnston and Jones helped Ireland reach 129 for 6 and an outside chance of an upset. But then the rain thwarted any possibility of a cricket outcome and once again we are left to speculate on what might have been. Shades of Guyana in 2009 perhaps?
Ireland can draw many positives from the Sri Lanka experience and although disappointed at not being given the chance to test the powerful West Indies batting, there are few people who would have backed them to defend 129 against the powerful hitting of Gayle and Pollard. It may have taken a miracle to win, but then we’ve experienced miracles before haven’t we with Ireland?
The tournament marked the end of the road for Boyd Rankin as an Ireland player and we all wish the big Bready man every success in trying to earn a test place with England. Some people are sceptical, but he is tailor-made for test cricket and he takes wickets. Let’s hope he gets the chance.
Finally, a word on the commentators who continue to refer to Nigel Jones as a Kiwi and Trent Johnston and Alex Cusack as Australians. They really do talk a lot of nonsense and top of the list for sheer babble is the much-loved David “Bumble” Lloyd. I quote-“The best way to stop a batsman scoring is to bowl him out.”
Nice one Bumble! Nobody could argue with that.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
