The Cricket thread

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Ireland win the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 qualifier tournament with a 68 run win over Afghanistan

Trent Johnston was man of the match in what is his final limited overs game.

He hit 62 off 32 balls and took three wickets.

[AQMP]

England getting a bit of a pasting so far in this series.  A key couple of days coming up.  If they can somehow salvage a draw from this position then they could re-group for the next test.  Otherwise they'll be 2-0 down with three to play away from home and all the momentum with Aus.  I think that England read too much into their 3-0 win during the summer (the score flattered them) and have been a bit surprised by how the Aussies have ripped into them in this series.  Even the no 11 hit a six this morning.  Pretty intense stuff so far.

[Orior]

England getting a bit of a pasting so far in this series.  A key couple of days coming up.  If they can somehow salvage a draw from this position then they could re-group for the next test.  Otherwise they'll be 2-0 down with three to play away from home and all the momentum with Aus.  I think that England read too much into their 3-0 win during the summer (the score flattered them) and have been a bit surprised by how the Aussies have ripped into them in this series.  Even the no 11 hit a six this morning.  Pretty intense stuff so far.

That will teach the motherland to schedule a test so close to the previous one. It is like being all-Ireland champions for 5 months.

[Estimator]

England getting a bit of a pasting so far in this series.  A key couple of days coming up.  If they can somehow salvage a draw from this position then they could re-group for the next test.  Otherwise they'll be 2-0 down with three to play away from home and all the momentum with Aus.  I think that England read too much into their 3-0 win during the summer (the score flattered them) and have been a bit surprised by how the Aussies have ripped into them in this series.  Even the no 11 hit a six this morning.  Pretty intense stuff so far.

That will teach the motherland to schedule a test so close to the previous one. It is like being all-Ireland champions for 5 months.

The English bookmakers had England as the massive favourite for this series. Some pundits had predicted a 5-0 Ashes whitewash. Though most thought it would be a 3-0 or 3-1 win. As AQPM has said, this puts the summer victory into perspective.

[Aerlik]

I took mini-me, a cricketing nut at the ripe old age of 12, to the final day's play of the third Ashes Test in Perth.  Thankfully the 40C heat held off and it only got to 30C.

I'd been to 20-20 games before but this was my first Test experience.  And I enjoyed it, all the more so as "we" won.  3-0 and the Ashes are Australia's again.  There is nothing to stop "us" going 5-0. 

The craic was good, there was enough action on the pitch to keep me interested and mini-me took great delight in giving me grief about not knowing the difference between 3rd. slip, point and silly mid-off.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...zzzzzz

[RealSpiritof98]

Big Bash final on now,  T20 is fast becoming my fav sport to watch on screen. great banter in the comms box, a direct link to talk to the captains while they're fielding and a celebrity in a designated area in the crowd and if he takes a catch a family in melboure wins a Million Dolla.

[GAA_Talk]

Big win today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/26258100

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Last ball win in the T20 World Cup opener today 

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/26610214

[Norf Tyrone]

Last ball win in the T20 World Cup opener today 

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/26610214

Brilliant result. I think it'll be between Zim and Ire for the spot in the super 10s and this has given them the edge.

[Main Street]

Last ball win in the T20 World Cup opener today 

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/26610214

Brilliant result. I think it'll be between Zim and Ire for the spot in the super 10s and this has given them the edge.

We have jumped well ahead of Zimbabwe now in the hunt for a place in the finals, in fact we're unbackable.

St Patrick's Day is a good day for Ireland to play world cup cricket.

[Niall Quinn]

Do you think the Zimbabwe wicket keeper was conflicted at all?

"But Thompson managed to scamper a bye off the last delivery as Zimbabwean wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor missed a run out."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/26610214

[Main Street]

Storm stops play as Ireland beat UAE on the Duckworth Lewis method  by 21 runs.
MOTM (sponsored by lifebuoy) awarded to Joyce.
And a bar of soap for each of the lads.

edit
Game stopped with irl on 103
The D/L method isn't that complicated here,  Game stopped with Irl on 103 runs for 86 balls in a 120 ball game .
103÷87 x120  gives  144 runs
That's 21 runs more than the UAE.
Though that method doesn't allow for the last couple of overs when the batsmen can let fly.

[Never beat the deeler]

Bizarre stuff last night with the lights going out in the whole stadium except the dj box!

Stayed up past midnight to watch it, bit of an anti-climax as it was getting a bit tighter than it should.

Ireland bowled extremely tight with O'Brien and Stirling being the pick of the bowlers, holding UAE to 123.

124 run chase very gettable, a chance to build up the net run rate as if Netherlands were to beat Ireland next week all both teams and Zimbabwe would have two wins.

Started well (Stirling had to retire after second over as he got hit on the elbow) and were 1-90 and looking at finishing with 5 overs to spare. O'Brien came in and threw away his wicket and Poynter followed straight away and all of a sudden we were 3-96.

Still would have been expected to close it out from there, but just as the Zim match, took the foot off the pedal instead of hammering home advantage.

One more win and we get to run around with the big boys. Final group game on Friday. 9:30am GMT

[Norf Tyrone]

Carnage

Ireland get 189 off their 20 overs.

The Dutch, I thought, would struggle to get that at all. However they had the incentive of chasing it in 14.2 overs to go through themselves.

They creamed 6s everywhere to get it in 13.5 overs.

Ireland.... Out!

[magpie seanie]

Crazy stuff altogethe. Dutch has nothing to lose and just went for it and it came off for them. Very disappointing for our lads who didn't do a whole pile wrong.