Ireland have earned the epithet “giant killers” for a reason. In the last Cricket World Cup in 2011, they trumped England by three-wickets, with Kevin O’Brien scoring the fastest hundred – 113 off 63 deliveries – in the tournament’s history. That was arguably their greatest one-day international victory of all time.
They will be looking to bring back that sparkle when the next World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand mid-February. Though placed 11th in the International Cricket Council’s one-day international rankings, Ireland are nevertheless ahead of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, teams that have been formally playing the game for much longer.
The 15-member Irish squad chosen for the tourney is relatively young – with an average age of 26.7 years – and inexperienced. There are six players among them who are playing in their first World Cup – Peter Chase, Craig Young, Tim Murtagh, Andy McBrine, Andrew Balbirine and Stuart Thompson. Between the last and coming editions of the World Cup, the country has played only 9 ODIs against nations that are “full members” of the International Cricket Council.
At the same time, they have reasons to be buoyant. In 2013, Ireland won the flagship trophy for ICC’s associate members in all three formats. Also, last year, Irish players had a successful county season.
Ed Joyce scored eight centuries at an average of 68.22 for Sussex. Gary Wilson went on to captain Surrey in place of South Africa’s Graeme Smith. Paul Sterling broke into Middlesex’s first-class team. Tim Murtagh took 58 Championship wickets, fifth highest for the season, and William Portfield batted admirably to lead Warwickshire into the T20 final.
Good new talent is also helping the Irish cause. Peter Chase took 11 wickets at an average of 15.73 in his first three domestic Championship games to secure a World Cup spot. Craig Young took five wickets on his debut against Scotland and did well on an “acclimatisation” tour of Australia and New Zealand.
High on the charts
When Scroll.in analysed and aggregated the career one-day international figures of the 15 players selected by each team going into the World Cup, a problem that was faced was with studying the minnows. Not only have they played few matches, those matches have been against other minor teams.
Among these minor teams (Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the four associates – Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and UAE), Ireland is undoubtedly especially strong. But if the number of matches is left aside, they do not do badly among all 14 World Cup participants – in fact they come fourth in the full rankings.
In the rankings created by Scroll.in, Ireland come first in bowling among the six minor teams. In terms of batting, they are the third.
Ireland’s opening pair of Paul Stirling and skipper William Poterfield has laid the foundation to the side’s success in the past few years. Aside from them will be crucial Ed Joyce, the team’s best batsman who comes in at number three. As for the bowling line-up, Craig Young is likely to take the new ball, with John Mooney and Kevin O’Brien backing him up.
Many hopes will be resting on O’Brien. Among Irish players, he has scored the second most runs (2,114) and taken the most wickets (63). And then, who can forget the fireworks he set off in 2011?
They will be looking to bring back that sparkle when the next World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand mid-February. Though placed 11th in the International Cricket Council’s one-day international rankings, Ireland are nevertheless ahead of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, teams that have been formally playing the game for much longer.
The 15-member Irish squad chosen for the tourney is relatively young – with an average age of 26.7 years – and inexperienced. There are six players among them who are playing in their first World Cup – Peter Chase, Craig Young, Tim Murtagh, Andy McBrine, Andrew Balbirine and Stuart Thompson. Between the last and coming editions of the World Cup, the country has played only 9 ODIs against nations that are “full members” of the International Cricket Council.
At the same time, they have reasons to be buoyant. In 2013, Ireland won the flagship trophy for ICC’s associate members in all three formats. Also, last year, Irish players had a successful county season.
Ed Joyce scored eight centuries at an average of 68.22 for Sussex. Gary Wilson went on to captain Surrey in place of South Africa’s Graeme Smith. Paul Sterling broke into Middlesex’s first-class team. Tim Murtagh took 58 Championship wickets, fifth highest for the season, and William Portfield batted admirably to lead Warwickshire into the T20 final.
Good new talent is also helping the Irish cause. Peter Chase took 11 wickets at an average of 15.73 in his first three domestic Championship games to secure a World Cup spot. Craig Young took five wickets on his debut against Scotland and did well on an “acclimatisation” tour of Australia and New Zealand.
High on the charts
When Scroll.in analysed and aggregated the career one-day international figures of the 15 players selected by each team going into the World Cup, a problem that was faced was with studying the minnows. Not only have they played few matches, those matches have been against other minor teams.
Among these minor teams (Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the four associates – Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and UAE), Ireland is undoubtedly especially strong. But if the number of matches is left aside, they do not do badly among all 14 World Cup participants – in fact they come fourth in the full rankings.
In the rankings created by Scroll.in, Ireland come first in bowling among the six minor teams. In terms of batting, they are the third.
Ireland’s opening pair of Paul Stirling and skipper William Poterfield has laid the foundation to the side’s success in the past few years. Aside from them will be crucial Ed Joyce, the team’s best batsman who comes in at number three. As for the bowling line-up, Craig Young is likely to take the new ball, with John Mooney and Kevin O’Brien backing him up.
Many hopes will be resting on O’Brien. Among Irish players, he has scored the second most runs (2,114) and taken the most wickets (63). And then, who can forget the fireworks he set off in 2011?
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