The Cricket thread

[corn02]

Watched last while few minutes, great tension, great result.

[ONeill]

Those last 6 overs were immense from Ireland. At 207 for 6 in 44 overs we looked fecked. Johnston them bowled an over for 1 run, Botha for 2 runs, Johnston for 2 runs, Botha for 1 run, O'Brien 0 runs and 2 wickets, then a rather cold White bowling for 9 runs.

Legendary finish.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

what did I tell ya about Botha?

[Norf Tyrone]

Fantastic game!

Glued to the box the last 2 hours, and watched Zimbabwe relatively cruising, and then getting a wee bit tighter, and then tighter again...and then.....holy geez.

Ireland's fielding cost them both points, but cannot criticise at all. The bowling & fielding intensity for the last 5 or 6 overs was top rate. I think Ireland ended up with their spinners bowling the last 2 overs, as Johnstone felt he had to use his strike bowlers earlier to try and get the wickets that would win it for him. It looked impossible for Zimbabwe not to win it with the number of overs they had left to bowl, but there you go.

Ireland second in the group tonight!

[tyroneboi]

watched the last few overs - unbelievable tension - it was superb!! Gonna watch the highlights now on BBC1.

[Norf Tyrone]

This from another forum..

2nd to last ball, the scrambled two... Rainsford clearly chanced his running direction to prevent the ball hitting the stumps at his end which meant he couldn't be Run Out. This is "Obstructing the Field" and would have resulted in an Ireland win by 1 run.

I'll give you the law:

Law 37.1 Out Obstructing the Field:

"Either batsman is out Obstructing the Field if he willfully obstructs or distracts the opposing side by word or action. It shall be regarded as obstruction if either batsman wilfully, and without the consent of the felding side, strikes the ball with his bat or person, other than a hand not holding the bat, after the ball has touched a fielder"

You could actually see Ian Gould thinking about it, but none of the Irish players even appealled. What do you guys think?

Should I get Mickey Harte involved?

Sounds like madness!!! I thought I knew the rules of cricket but surely Ireland won the game by 1 wicket if Zimbabwe were all out at the end of the 50 overs.

Anyway it sounds like it was a fantastic game and if there are a few more like that I'm sure cricket will get a few more supporters around the place.

Yes that's the rules in ODI, but for some reason they are not applied in the World Cup!

[screenexile]

Strange game of cricket. To be fair to both sides some of the batting wasn't great and the fielding at times was absolutely shambolic!!

Oh and that Aggers is a twat "blah blah they shouldn't be allowed to play blah blah they're not good enough blah blah" He's a dick. How are we going to get better unless we keep playing games??

Not to take this off course too much but why was there some gabshite wearing a Rangers top in the middle of the crowd?? Fair enough people wearing an NI jersey and the NI flag beng flown but WTF would you wear a Rangers jersey to an Ireland game for? (I would also condemn any dckhead wearing a Celtic jersey as well before anyone has a go, but I'm sure nobody will )

[Rossie11]

Great finish. Fair play to them for digging it out.
Had enough chances to win it but cant take anything away from them.
If Bray had any help batting they would have won comfortably.

[Dinny Breen]

2nd to last ball, the scrambled two... Rainsford clearly chanced his running direction to prevent the ball hitting the stumps at his end which meant he couldn't be Run Out. This is "Obstructing the Field" and would have resulted in an Ireland win by 1 run.

I was screaming this at the TV last night, greatest finish I've seen since Australia v South Africa in the World Cup 8 years ago. Thought the Irish support were great as well. Looking forward to the game on Saturday..

[Rossie11]

greatest finish I've seen since Australia v South Africa in the World Cup 8 years ago

Dinny was that the one where SA needed 1 run from last 2 balls and messed it up? 2 of them ended up at one end with one ball left?

[Gabriel_Hurl]

That's the one - Lance Klusener and Allan Donald ballsed it up

[Dinny Breen]

Yea that's the one, amazing game...




http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/cwc2003/hi/newsid_2490000/newsid_2493000/2493099.stm

[Gabriel_Hurl]

"Double - agent" Ed Joyce is out 2nd ball of England's innings

[Billys Boots]

Engerland 134/6 after 36.0.  Not looking like they'll even make Ireland's 221 now.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

World Cup Group D, Jamaica: Ireland v Pakistan
Match starts 1430 GMT Saturday

Pakistan will look to dampen Irish enthusiasm carried over from their thrilling tie with Zimbabwe when the sides meet on Saturday.

If Ireland can cause another upset, it would mean Inzamam-ul-Haq's side catching an early plane home.

With Shahid Afridi still banned, coach Bob Woolmer is considering promoting keeper Kamran Akmal to open the innings because of their top-order struggles.

But Ireland are intent on making it a memorable St Patrick's Day.

With his side having to take the field less than 48 hours after their dramatic last-ball finale against Zimbabwe, captain Trent Johnston insisted: "If we bowl well up front against Pakistan, and if we bat well, we could be competitive.

"We will get out there and give it everything we've got. We're going to fight hard.

"If we're going to beat Pakistan we'll have to play out of our skins and give it 120%. Who knows what is possible? We beat the West Indies a few years ago, so anything is possible in sport.

"We have to play for 100 overs if we're going to beat Pakistan, and do the same against West Indies."

Although many Pakistanis would consider a defeat by Ireland unthinkable, the pressure is on them after they lost to the West Indies in the opening game of the tournament.

Defeat by Ireland would see them unable to reach the Super 8 phase, whatever the result of Monday's game between West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Looking ahead to the all-important game, Woolmer said: "I have watched Ireland and I have been impressed by their discipline.

"Our game against Ireland will be a tough one as they have proved that they are one of the best-equipped of the associate sides and are very keen and well-organised."

But despite the opening day defeat, he added: "Let's make sure we remain positive for the rest of the tournament.

"The opening match of the World Cup was the type of game we can expect from all the sides here. It was a tough, no-holds-barred game."

Pakistan have never met Ireland in an official one-day international, although the sides did meet in two 60-over tour matches in Dublin on consecutive days in May 1987.

Shoaib Mohammed hit an unbeaten 101 in the first game as the tourists won by 114 runs, while Manzoor Elahi smashed 109 off 65 balls, including 10 sixes, in the second as they won on run rate.

Pakistan's last World Cup game against an ICC associate member country saw them cruise to a 171-victory over Namibia in 2003, with Wasim Akram taking 5-28.

Ireland (from): T Johnson (capt), A Botha, J Bray, K Carroll, P Gillespie, D Langford-Smith, K McCallan, J Mooney, P Mooney, E Morgan, K O'Brien (wkt), N O'Brien, W Porterfield, B Rankin, A White.

Pakistan (from): Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Azhar Mahmood, Danish Kaneria, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Yousuf, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Rao Iftikhar, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Younis Khan.

Umpires: B Bowden (NZ) and B Jerling (SA).