Ireland cricket has been dominated in recent days by the real prospect of them achieving their ultimate goal of Test status. Last night in the Caribbean island of Trinidad they got a sharp reminder that the journey to that Promised Land will not be an easy one when they were comprehensively beaten by Guyana in their opening match of the Nagico Super 50 West Indies regional competition.
After Guyana had racked up 301 runs for the loss of just three wickets in their fifty overs, Ireland were bowled out in the thirty ninth over for 187 to lose by 114 runs. As has become a regular occurrence, Ireland made a slow start to a tournament and it has to be hoped that as on many other occasions, they have the poor game out of their system early and produce their true form next time out. William Porterfield won the toss and put the opposition in to bat and then had to endure an opening partnership of 129 between West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Trevon Griffith. Griffith fell for 62 in the 30th over to a fine catch of the bowling of Kevin O’Brien and this brought in another veteran Test player in Ramnaresh Sarwan.
When Kevin O’Brien removed Chanderpaul for 79 with the last ball of the 38th over Guyana had only reached a containable 160 and Ireland harboured real hopes of restricting them to less than 250. However Guyana skipper Chris Barnwell joined Sarwan and they added a rapid 65 in 39 balls before Barnwell became O’Brien’s third victim and he departed for 31 from 15 deliveries. Sarwan and new partner Leon Johnson then took the match away from Ireland when they added another 76 runs off the final 33 balls of the innings which culminated in a savage assault on the Ireland death bowling which saw the last three overs go for 53 of those runs.
Up to the 40th over the Ireland bowling had been able to contain the batsmen without ever looking particularly threatening but the bowling at the end of the innings was just not good enough at this level and Phil Simmons will be spending the weekend reminding his bowlers of the skills required at the death. Kevin O‘Brien finished with 3 wickets for 56, his figures somewhat spoiled by conceding 18 from his final over. However the best bowling performance came from young Donemana off spinner Andy McBrine, who in his first limited overs match for Ireland, finished with the very credible figures of 0 for 34 off his ten overs and outshone his more illustrious spin partner George Dockrell.
If Ireland had any realistic chance of chasing down 302, a good start to the innings was essential. Unfortunately most of the batsmen displayed the same rustiness as the bowling unit and before the second over was complete Niall O’Brien and William Porterfield were already back in the pavilion with only five runs on the board. Halfway through the ninth over, when Alex Cusack fell, Ireland had slumped to 27 for 4 and hopes of a winning start to 2014 were fading rapidly. A partnership of 59 between Kevin O’Brien and Andrew Poynter, who like Andy McBrine would have been regarded as a fringe player in this squad, revived fortunes for a while until O’Brien departed for 39. He was out LBW attempting to sweep Devendra Bishoo, one of the three Test spin bowlers in the Guyana ranks. Poynter went on to make a well-deserved 54 until a mix up with Max Sorensen left him stranded out of his crease and he was run out.
Although Sorensen hit a few lusty blows towards the end the Ireland innings subsided and the team will be disappointed that they could not survive for more than 39 overs. There will be a lot of reflection before they meet Jamaica in Monday evening when they will be faced with the challenge of three Test pace bowlers.
File Image: ICC Intercontinental Cup Final,Ireland vs Afghanistan
Ireland's Kevin O'Brien
©INPHO/Barry Chambers
