Today the Ireland cricket team cross the boundary line for their first game at home since last September when they entertain Sri Lanka in the RSA Insurance one-day International series at Clontarf.
The visitors are fresh from their World T 20 Cup triumph in Bangladesh and are also formidable opponents in the 50 over version of the game. While they have chosen to save five of their top players for the England leg of their tour they still possess sufficient quality to start favourites to win this two match series on today and Thursday. There will be a degree of disappointment that players of the calibre of Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan, Herath and Malinga will not be at Castle Avenue although the Ireland squad may not share that disappointment as they search for their first home win against a Full Member in an ODI.
The failure to win either of the matches against Pakistan this time last year still rankles with the players and management and if the opportunity arises again they are determined to close the game out. Since that day in September Ireland has won the World T20 Qualifier and the Intercontinental Cup in UAE and has defeated both West Indies and Zimbabwe in T20 matches. Their winter season did end with that spectacular assault by the Dutch but like a good team in any sport that is done and dusted and a new season beckons. And this new season has already produced some fine performances by the Ireland lads in County cricket with Ed Joyce the standout batsman in England in April. With three first class centuries already under his belt plus a 93, he will be the number one target for the Sri Lankan seam attack anxious to prevent him continuing on his hot streak of form.
There can be few who could argue against the view that Ed is the most cultured batter Ireland have had in the professional era and arguably much longer and currently he is in the form of his life. Last May in the second ODI he made everyone else look as if he was batting on a different wicket as he caressed the ball for an undefeated 116 out of a total of 229. Skipper William Porterfield has made his best start to a County season for some time with two half centuries in his first four innings while Niall O’Brien made 133 at almost a run a ball last Monday. The other member of the usual top four in the order, Paul Stirling, has not broken into the Middlesex first team yet this season but he reminded his employers what he is capable of when he blasted a rapid hundred against them for Sunbury CC in a T20 match. Only Gary Wilson has yet to make an impact this season but in fairness he was one of the star performers during Ireland’s winter campaign, while Kevin O’Brien reminded everyone of his powers when he helped turn last Saturday’s Inter-pro with a boundary laden 98. If Alex Cusack is fit to play then Andrew Poynter will likely be vying for a starting place with Niall O’Brien but well and all as Andrew played in the T20 games in the winter he still lacks the experience and expertise of the Leicestershire man at International level, although Phil Simmons may not see it that way.
While the batting should not be a concern given the early season form, bowling is not in as healthy a position. Only Tim Murtagh has caught the eye so far with his three County Championship outings producing thirteen wickets including 5 for 61 against Nottinghamshire. George Dockrell has been unable to recapture a place in the Somerset side this season and played for Leinster Lightning on Saturday when his nine overs cost forty five runs and he rarely threatened to take a wicket. In that same match Max Sorensen was unlucky to have a simple slip catch grassed off his bowling in his first over but his pace is down and the rhythm of last summer seems to have deserted him at present.
Alex Cusack has just had one club outing for Clontarf since his travails on the flat Sylhet surface, and in that game he was his more usual economical self with a spell of 1 for 19 off seven overs although he did support young Colin Currie in an unbroken stand of 88 to see the Castle Avenue home against Terenure. The early season wickets at his home ground are light years removed from Sylhet and he should revel in those conditions as he did in not dissimilar circumstances in Jamaica where he was the undoubted star of the T20’s against the West Indies. However Clontarf in May is also light years away from the conditions in Brisbane next year and Alex is going to have to convince the selectors that he still has the wherewithal to warrant a trip to the land of his birth. The other bowlers in the squad were also on show at The Hills on Saturday when the Warriors duo of Stuart Thompson and Any McBrine both got in the wickets column but Stuart conceded forty six runs off his five overs while Andy took 2 for 50 off his full complement and didn’t pale in comparison to George Dockrell.
There is no escaping the reality of the impact that the loss of Trent Johnson and Boyd Rankin, has made on the team’s cutting edge. When I asked Warren Deutrom last Monday, at the Newstalk 106-108 FM Interpro’s launch, about the suggestions that Boyd might be facilitated by the ICC to return to the Ireland setup for the World Cup next year he did not dismiss the possibility. However as he clarified, it could only ever come to fruition if he was not selected for England this year and Boyd was willing to forgo the possibility of ever playing for his adopted country again. Whichever way it all pans out there is no doubt that the presence of the big Bready man would be a very welcome addition to Ireland’s bowling attack.
Whichever eleven is selected today it would be very foolish to underestimate Sri Lanka, even without the absence of so many star players. Their squad is led by Angelo Mathews who has accumulated 2565 runs and 73 wickets from his 121 ODI’s and in total they 768 caps between them. Opening bat Upul Tharanga has thirteen ODI hundreds in the 5228 runs he has scored in his 171 appearances while Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, and Kusal Perera have all seen three figures registered against their name.
While their batting may need adjusting to alien conditions, they possess a bowling attack that will relish a helpful surface every bit as much as the home team. Their attack will be led by former World number one ranked ODI bowler Nuwan Kulasekara, who as he showed in the recent Asia Cup and World T20, that he can still confound the best of batsmen with his seam movement and swing at a lively pace. He can move the ball both ways and is their go to man up front and at the death and he will be seeking to add to his 161 victims achieved in 147 matches.
He is supported in the pace department by Shaminda Eranga, Ruranga Lakmal and Dhammika Prasad who have 72 wickets between them while they also have a couple of more than useful spin options. The tall Sachithra Senanayake has been a regular feature in the side recently and his accurate off breaks have accounted for 27 batsmen to date at a ratio of one per game.
One of the most familiar names is the enigmatic mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis who burst on to the scene like a meteor in 2008 ripping through the famed Indian middle order with a mixture of off breaks, googlies and carrom balls. While he currently has 121 ODI wickets from just 70 appearances video analysis has diminished his impact but for batsmen who have not been exposed to his wiles in the flesh he is still a formidable opponent. Top batsmen counter him by using their feet as playing him from the crease usually leads to a short stay at the wicket. However you cannot disguise the loss of the missing players who in ODI’s have 32,000 runs and 51 hundreds between them and almost 400 wickets. At the pre-match press conference Sri Lanka skipper, Angelo Mathews was most concerned about the effect that the cold weather will have on his players particularly the bowlers. In similar conditions last year against Pakistan, Ireland were in prime position to win both matches and they will be hoping that today is the same only with a different result.
Ireland have been on the cusp of a home win against a Full Member on a number of occasions and matches in early May give the team an additional advantage. There is genuine optimism that this time the breakthrough will finally come.
