Ireland are ranked 12th in ODI cricket. West Indies are ranked 8th. Ireland only entered the International Cricket Council in 1993. West Indies had already won two World Cups by then.
And yet to call this an upset would be to demean Ireland and unduly praise West Indies. Because this Irish team is not a minnow. They’ve been doing this far too often for that epithet to be used.
Pakistan in 2007. England in 2011. West Indies in 2015. An upset is a fluke. It’s not supposed to be repeated – that’s why it’s called an upset. But Ireland do it again and again. Against different oppositions. Every time they play in an international tournament, they prove a point to the guardians of the game, who seem hell-bent on not giving them Test status.
If you need stats, wrap your mind around this: there have been only five 300+ chases in World Cups. Ireland has figured in three of them. Three. They’ve successfully chased down 328 against the Netherlands in 2011, the highest chase in a World Cup. These are not numbers that characterise a minnow.
A strong team
This Irish team is an extremely strong team, make no mistake about it. Despite losing players regularly to England, they’ve never let it affect their performances. 2012 saw the exit of Boyd Rankin, one of their bowling spearheads. And yet, the team sails on. Their batting is strong and reliable – Porterfield, Stirling, Joyce (recently back from England), the two O’Briens, Wilson and Mooney can all bat. There’s no wild slogger in the team (Shahid Afridi, take note), all of them can play long innings and press on the accelerator if and when required.
Their bowling might be weaker than their batting, but it’s definitely not pedestrian. George Dockrell continues to impress, picking up three wickets against West Indies. McBrine was picked as a second spinner, over Alex Cusack and Craig Young. Looking at West Indies’s batting line up, the move had every chance of backfiring, but McBrine put in a excellent performance giving away only 26 runs in his 10 overs.
Dismal form
And finally on to West Indies. An Irish victory may delight all the cricket neutrals, but it provides sadness in equal measure. When West Indies play well, they add colour and joie-de-vivre to any cricketing event. And yet when they play badly, the entire cricketing fraternity sheds a tear or two, desperately longing for the Caribbean swagger of old.
West Indies are underprepared and undercooked. There are too many fissures within the team. Jason Holder is a splendid lad, but he does not deserve to have captaincy thrust on his young shoulders. Darren Sammy was performing a thankless task with the captaincy and taking it away from him only serves to demotivate him further. Their star spinner, Narine suddenly decided to sit out of the tournament. Their two top limited-over batsmen, Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, have been left out for reasons known only to their cricket board. Their bowlers, Roach and Co., may be fast but they’re definitely not troubling batsmen. And finally, Devon Smith continues to excel in the Indian Premier League, rather than on an international stage.
Their implosion is sad, but hardly unexpected. And what is even sadder is that it seems there is no way for them out of this abyss. West Indies played abjectly today and should have lost by a bigger margin. Forget Ireland, even Zimbabwe put in a better performance yesterday. It sounds cruel to say this, but they don’t even deserve to play Test cricket now.
And yet to call this an upset would be to demean Ireland and unduly praise West Indies. Because this Irish team is not a minnow. They’ve been doing this far too often for that epithet to be used.
Pakistan in 2007. England in 2011. West Indies in 2015. An upset is a fluke. It’s not supposed to be repeated – that’s why it’s called an upset. But Ireland do it again and again. Against different oppositions. Every time they play in an international tournament, they prove a point to the guardians of the game, who seem hell-bent on not giving them Test status.
If you need stats, wrap your mind around this: there have been only five 300+ chases in World Cups. Ireland has figured in three of them. Three. They’ve successfully chased down 328 against the Netherlands in 2011, the highest chase in a World Cup. These are not numbers that characterise a minnow.
A strong team
This Irish team is an extremely strong team, make no mistake about it. Despite losing players regularly to England, they’ve never let it affect their performances. 2012 saw the exit of Boyd Rankin, one of their bowling spearheads. And yet, the team sails on. Their batting is strong and reliable – Porterfield, Stirling, Joyce (recently back from England), the two O’Briens, Wilson and Mooney can all bat. There’s no wild slogger in the team (Shahid Afridi, take note), all of them can play long innings and press on the accelerator if and when required.
Their bowling might be weaker than their batting, but it’s definitely not pedestrian. George Dockrell continues to impress, picking up three wickets against West Indies. McBrine was picked as a second spinner, over Alex Cusack and Craig Young. Looking at West Indies’s batting line up, the move had every chance of backfiring, but McBrine put in a excellent performance giving away only 26 runs in his 10 overs.
Dismal form
And finally on to West Indies. An Irish victory may delight all the cricket neutrals, but it provides sadness in equal measure. When West Indies play well, they add colour and joie-de-vivre to any cricketing event. And yet when they play badly, the entire cricketing fraternity sheds a tear or two, desperately longing for the Caribbean swagger of old.
West Indies are underprepared and undercooked. There are too many fissures within the team. Jason Holder is a splendid lad, but he does not deserve to have captaincy thrust on his young shoulders. Darren Sammy was performing a thankless task with the captaincy and taking it away from him only serves to demotivate him further. Their star spinner, Narine suddenly decided to sit out of the tournament. Their two top limited-over batsmen, Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, have been left out for reasons known only to their cricket board. Their bowlers, Roach and Co., may be fast but they’re definitely not troubling batsmen. And finally, Devon Smith continues to excel in the Indian Premier League, rather than on an international stage.
Their implosion is sad, but hardly unexpected. And what is even sadder is that it seems there is no way for them out of this abyss. West Indies played abjectly today and should have lost by a bigger margin. Forget Ireland, even Zimbabwe put in a better performance yesterday. It sounds cruel to say this, but they don’t even deserve to play Test cricket now.
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