Ireland face their biggest challenge

The World Cup so far: South Africa, beaten once, Ireland unbeaten.
Predictable as the tournament may have become in some ways, you cannot say you expected to read that. Ireland have also bucked the trend in Australia by chasing a tough target successfully under lights against UAE, one of just two successful pursuits in that part of the draw (the other being India’s against UAE when the lights weren’t needed in Perth).

Victories over West Indies and UAE have left Ireland looking good for the knockouts with half their matches still to play, although they will know their strongest opposition in the group is still to come. That starts in Canberra, where they will take on a South African side sufficiently recovered from a defeat to India and buoyed by their performance over West Indies.

Both sides will clear their own paths to the quarters with a win in this match and South Africa will be the strong favourites to get that. They may even regard their hiccup for the competition over after they dominated West Indies, albeit with an injury setback to JP Duminy and two reserves in the starting XI.
That performance allowed almost all South Africa’s squad members, barring left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso, to find form and they will want nothing more than to take that back to New Zealand especially if they hit cruise control when they get there – and a win over Ireland will allow that.
For Ireland, defeat will not mean disaster but an upset would be another jolt to the global order. It would also maintain them as the only unbeaten team alongside New Zealand and India.

In the spotlight
In a tournament dominated by the batsmen there have been a few outstanding displays from bowlers, but Dale Steyn has yet to have a say. He has a wicket from each of the three games South Africa have played and pulled back his economy rate from more than seven runs an over against Zimbabwe to less than four runs an over against West Indies, but he seems to be missing some of the menace that makes his magic. Steyn has not been as quick or as aggressive as usual and has let some of South Africa’s other bowlers take over from him as the spearhead. But that may all have been part of his warming up and if he is ready to go, opposition line-ups will have something to fear.
Ireland’s batting has proved, twice in this tournament alone, that they can stand up for themselves so it will be up to their bowlers to step up. George Dockrell is their highest wicket-taker with four scalps while Max Sorensen leads their pack. South Africa do not struggle against either left-arm spin or pace but have been known to be outthought by craftiness and guile, which is what Ireland’s pack will need to find to keep them quiet.

Team news
Vernon Philander and JP Duminy are still recovering from hamstring and side strains respectively and South Africa will likely take the cautious approach over their availability. That should give Rilee Rossouw and Kyle Abbott another opportunity after both performed impressively against West Indies. South Africa may still be deciding between which allrounder to use with Farhaan Behardien and Wayne Parnell the candidates.
South Africa 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Rilee Rossouw, 5 AB de Villiers (capt), 6 David Miller, 7 Farhaan Behardien/Wayne Parnell, 8 Kyle Abbott, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir

Ireland have no reason to alter a strong batting line-up and will likely stick with the same attack they used against West Indies. Alex Cusack came in for Andy McBrine and they may want the extra seamer rather than slower bowler given the surface.
Ireland 1 Williams Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O’Brien, 5 Andy Balbirnie, 6 Gary Wilson (wk), 7 Kevin O’Brien, 8 John Mooney, 9 Alex Cusack, 10 Max Sorenson, 11 George Dockrell

Pitch and conditions
Although Afghanistan made run scoring look like hard work at this venue, this was the surface Chris Gayle plundered 200 runs on a week ago. Zimbabwe responded with a total just shy of 300. A flat pitch and fast outfield should provide plenty more runs as the tournament says goodbye to the Australian capital. Warm weather of 29 degrees is forecast with no rain.

Anwar's rapid ton takes UAE to 278

A seventh-wicket partnership of 107 in 11.5 overs - a World Cup record - between Shaiman Anwar and Amjad Javed rescued UAE from 131 for 6 in the 35th over. Anwar, who had scored 129 runs in seven innings coming into the World Cup, followed up his fifty against Zimbabwe with UAE's first World Cup and second ODI century. Anwar looked like Kamran Akmal in his relaxed stance, and the way he shaped up when playing his preferred shots square either side of the pitch.
It was a similar tale of ordinary death bowling for Ireland after they had let West Indies score 300-plus from 87 for 5, but once again Ireland were still the favourites to win on a flat and dry Gabba pitch. The damage done in the first 35 overs - through clever bowling changes, clever changes of pace and trajectory, and excellent fielding - was arguably more significant. At one point Ireland would have begun thinking of boosting their net run rate, but Anwar and Javed made sure there would be a contest in Brisbane.

After asking UAE to bat, Ireland were crafty despite limitations of pace in their attack. They did bring in Alex Cusack ahead of Andy McBrine to make use of the Gabba bounce, but just like with McBrine they introduced Paul Stirling ahead of the more established spinner George Dockrell. In a tidy unbroken spell of 10-0-27-2, Stirling took two wickets to foil any UAE plans of capitalising on a steady start. Kevin O'Brien and Dockrell then took regular wickets to make sure UAE didn't get much breathing space.
Amjad Ali and Andri Berenger, though, had made a big improvement after they had looked like getting out every ball against Zimbabwe. Without taking any risks they reached 42 for 0 in eight overs. That was when William Porterfield went to Cusack and Stirling. The next three overs brought just six runs, and in the fourth Berenger hit a shortish delivery straight down short midwicket's throat. In Sitrling's next over Kevin O'Brien took a stunning catch at first slip, a sharp ricochet off wicketkeeper Gary Wilson's thigh. The batsman dismissed was Kishna Chandran whose middle name is Karate, and Kevin O'brien celebrated with a Karate Kid pose.

At 53 for 2 in the 14th over, out came UAE's best player Khurram Khan and he looked fluent immediately. Ali, though, had lost all his fluency. From 29 off 31, he went to 41 off 66 when Kevin O'Brien was introduced in the 19th over. A freebie down the leg side should have eased the pressure a little, but later in the over Ali pulled the bowler straight to deep square leg. Wicketkeeper Swapnil Patil soon played a subcontinent shot to a length ball from Kevin O'Brien, opening the face, and struggling to control the ball. At first slip, Stirling returned the favour to the man who had played a big part in his wicket earlier.
Dockrell meanwhile was prepared to take on the pressure of bowling almost all his overs in the last 20. In his second, he had Khurram lbw, and UAE were disintegrating fast, threatening to not bat their 50 overs out when Anwar was joined by Javed. The batting Powerplay arrived immediately. With no pace at their disposal, and a resistance to the yorker, the Ireland bowlers let UAE back in. Anwar's purposeful batting imparted pressure under which Ireland collapsed.

Every time Ireland dropped short, both Anwar and Javed capitalised. At times their plans would be pedestrian, bowling half-volleys with mid-off and mid-on up, and bowling short with point and third man inside the circle. Part of it can be put down to the clever batting by the duo. They were intelligent in almost always hitting unmanned areas in the field, and once they were in their timing got better. Ninety-four runs came in nine overs after the end of the 35th.
Some control arrived in the next three overs, with Ireland getting their plans right. That didn't slow down Anwar, who now began to improvise with boundaries not as readily available. One of those improvisations, a dink past short third man brought him three runs to go to 100. A big smile and a celebration on his knees followed. Records had fallen, but UAE still needed their bowlers to perform out of their skins to notch the big one, a win.

Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland thrash West Indies, shining spotlight on lamentable ICC

The boys in green looked to have let a result slip away after the Windies recovered from an early collapse, but the Irish chased down 300+ for the third time in World Cup history

Smiling eyes: Ireland pulled off another memorable win

Irish eyes always seem to be smiling come cricket World Cup time and after an opening four wicket win over the hapless West Indies those eyes are beaming once more.

Ireland have made upsets part of their very nature, but it could be argued that this wasn't even an upset such is the turmoil in and out of the West Indies team.

And unlike previous 'shocks' such as the win over England in 2011, it was about one or two men standing out, this was a team victory in the truest sense.

The boys in green, led for years now by a canny West Indian in the shape of Phil Simmons produced an authentic one day win to make their dream of reaching the quarter-finals a very reachable target.

Paul Stirling picked up the man of the match award for his 92 as Ireland overhauled their target of 305 with 25 balls to spare, but he was the star among a galaxy.


Striling performance: 92 from the big-hitting batsman set Ireland up for victory

Joining him in the spotlight was Ed Joyce, the former England batsman who added 106 with him for the second wicket as he made 84.

And Niall O'Brien whose 79 not out made sure the better team got home despite a wobble towards the end where they lost four wickets for just 18 runs.

With the ball their young left arm spinner George Dockrell put on the sort of masterclass that Daniel Vettori has been producing for years in these parts.

But his 3-50 was overshadowed in many ways by the 10 overs of off spin from 21-year-old Andy McBrine who conceded just 26 runs.


Lendl Simmons cracked 102 as he added 154 with Darren Sammy, who hit 89 of his own to help post what looked like being a competitive 304.

It is clear though that 300 is barely the benchmark for this World Cup and the Irish completed their third chase of more than 300 in the tournament.

“It is obviously fantastic to win,” said Ireland skipper William Porterfield. “This sets us up nicely for the next few games.

“Belief has been growing within the squad for a long time and we know what we are capable of, not just in this game but the other games in the competition as well.

“Three hundred was probably about par as we knew the pitch was good with a very quick outfield, so we felt it was well within grasp.

Hagen Hopkins
Finished off: Niall O'Brien led Ireland over the line

“Stirling and Joyce kicked on beautifully for us before Niall finished off the chase. I believe Ireland can quality for the knockout stages.

“We are going into different conditions as we move on to Brisbane now. We just want to keep proving ourselves to the others.”

And it is that passion to prove people wrong about associate cricket and Irish cricket that has made the current era such a successful one.

Sadly their efforts on the field have been disgracefully snubbed for too long by too many off it.

Their appearance in the second stage of the 2007 World Cup as India and Pakistan went home was seen as a disaster in some quarters due entirely to the financial consequences.

But when it comes to cricket, the Irish offer full value.

The reduced World Cup in 2019 will contain just 10 teams leaving the likes of Ireland with an almighty battle to qualify, not because they aren't good enough but because it is doubtful whether they will be given enough fixtures to show their worth. They haven't had them thus far.

On the other side slump the mess that is West Indies cricket who are not only whipping boys out in the middle, but are facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit from the Indian board for pulling out of a tour midway through.

They have left two of their best players, Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard, at home for non-cricketing reasons and their fast bowling captain is struggling in the way that anyone would in charge, let alone a 23-year-old with less that 30 matches behind him.