Dave Hartin Padraig Harrington’s US Masters challenge appears to be at an end as he lies 10 shots off the lead with 4 holes to play in his third round at Augusta National, a quadruple bogey 9 at the 2nd effectively ending any lingering hopes of a charge on “moving day”. The other Irish players are also having mixed rounds with Graeme McDowell (playing alongside Tiger) 2 over for the day through 12 while Rory McIlroy managed to steady himself after yesterday’s …
On a day of unexpected results in the CWC 2011 qualifiers, the biggest surprise came in Krugersdorp where unbeaten Ireland’s progress was halted in spectacular fashion by Afghanistan. After winning the toss and inserting the Afghans, the Irish would have been pleased to restrict them to 101-5 after 27 overs but a partnership of 89 between Stanikzai and Ahmadzai boosted the total to a competitive if not daunting 218 off their allocation of 50 overs. Ireland’s chase began badly with …
Ireland end the group stage of the CWC 2011 qualifier unbeaten after defeating Namibia in Johannesburg today. The defeated Intercontinental Cup finalists soon regretted their decision to bat first as accurate Irish bowling and good out-cricket in the field left Namibia reeling at 66-6. However, Ireland were not able to clean up the tail which wagged effectively enough to set a target of 214 and give the Namibian’s something to bowl at. It was soon clear that the total was …
Entries come thick and fast in Irish cricket at the moment due to the compact nature of the CWC 2011 qualifying tournament. Ireland are now the only undefeated side in South Africa after another comfortable victory against Canada. The Maple Leaf’s were going nicely at 174-4 before some injudicious running and good work in the field from Ireland sparked a collapse and Canada subsided to 220 all out. Ireland’s top order struggled to 42-4 before an unbeaten partnership of 181 …
Ireland continued their serene progress through the group stage of the CWC 2011 qualifiers with a win that was comfortable in the end against Oman. Having been 46-4 at one point an unbeaten 101 from Kevin O’Brien (pictured left, supported by 70 from Andrew White) set a challenging target of 285. The Omani openers had the Irish worried for a time, adding 98 for the first wicket before being removed by MOTM spinner Regan West who returned match figures of …
Convincing win in Jo’burg for Ireland today over their nearest rivals as they open their campaign to reach the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Having been set a modest 232 by Scotland, Ireland cruised to victory by 7 wickets with more than 12 overs to spare. Man of the match was skipper and Gloucestershire’s Will Porterfield with 101 off only 89 balls. No resting on laurels however as Ireland’s next game against Oman (really?) in Krugerdorp is tomorrow morning. Match Summary: …
It’s always an exciting time of year to be a cricketer with the clocks about to go forward. Digging out last years whites to see if they’ll get through another season, throwing away the mephitic, mouldy inners, the smell of linseed oil on willow and putting creaking joints through indoor nets. Ireland’s cricketers are currently in the much sunnier climes of South Africa as they prepare for the qualifying tournament for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Ireland go into …
Well it was nice while it lasted. Ireland were outclassed in the second half – Fiji go to the semi final against Australia after beating “The Green Machine” 30-14 in Queensland today. Barring upsets, it looks like the hosts will win the competition comfortably. Dave Hartin
Apologies as I took my eye off this with all the action across the pond. After Samoa beat Tonga on Friday, the naissant Ireland rugby league side needed to beat Samoa by at least 5 points to progress in the competition. Pat Richards scored a hat-trick of tries as the Irish won convincingly by 34 points to 12 to upset the odds and the pundits with the Pacific islanders indiscipline once again proving costly. It looks like they will face …
Match summary – Port Elizabeth: Namibia 250 & 145; Ireland 195 & 201-1 (NJ O’Brien 119*): Ireland win by 9 wickets. Ireland’s cricketers have proved themselves as the best associate nation in the world with a comprehensive victory over Namibia in the ICC Intercontinental Cup Final. In a low scoring game the cream did indeed rise to the top as Northamptonshire’s wicketkeeper/batsman Niall O’Brien proved the difference between the sides with a memorable century as he and Alex Cusack (MOTM …
The 20/20 for $20 million match between the Stanford Superstars and an England XI at the Stanford Cricket Ground hosted by Sir Allen Stanford in Stanfordland… sorry, Antigua gets underway at 2130GMT. The tournament has been an almighty PR disaster for the ECB and the imported whores… sorry, English team have clearly tired of the circus that the Texan has surrounded them with. Stanford did a round of interviews on Thursday to try and offset the row caused by his …
The pavillion at Burndennett CC near Strabane has been destroyed by fire overnight. Dave Hartin
Ireland have continued on the 3rd morning of the ICC Intercontinental Cup Final where they left off yesterday evening. Rankin and Botha have accounted for one of 4 Burgers and Williams to reduce Namibia to 43-4 but perhaps more significantly, Gerrie Snyman (who decimated Ireland’s 1st innings with the ball) has retired hurt – no details on what happened to him yet. The Africans are finding hard to get the ball off the square and have trudged along to 62-4 …
Gerrie Snyam has amazing figures of 5-16 currently as he’s ripped through Ireland’s batting line up with the new ball. Namibia were all out for 250 earlier this morning – looks a long way off currently. Update It appears Ireland’s innings has been declared closed on 195-9, Cusack unbeaten on 95 – one assumes to enable Ireland’s attack to have 2 bites with the new ball. Reminds me of Atherton declaring with Hick in the 90s at Sydney… look what …
3 wickets in 2 overs in the last half hour of the day put the gloss on a fine performance in the field by Ireland as Namibia reached 241-9 at stumps on the first day of the ICC Intercontinental Cup Final. Peter Connell was the pick of the bowlers with a return of 4-51 while the main Namibian resistance came in a stand of 91 for the 6th wicket between Louis Burger and Bjorn Kotze.Namibia made a solid start after …
Ireland’s quest for an unprecedented hat-trick of ICC Intercontinental Cup victories comes to a conclusion over the next 5 days with the final in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The opposition Namibia enter the game as underdogs but will have been buoyed by their performance in Windhoek a few weeks ago when they came within 8 runs of knocking the Irish out of the tournament altogether. The match is scheduled to begin at 0830GMT with ball by ball text commentary here. …
Happy Diwali to any Indian ex-pat Sluggerites out there. The smog from millions of fireworks lingering over Delhi didn’t affect the Indian top-order’s sighting of the ball as having won the toss in the third test, they reached stumps on 296-3 with Gautam Gambhir unbeaten through the day on 149*. The Australians (as I’m sure Kevin Pietersen is noting in his bed in the Caribbean) do not appear to be able to do anything about it. UpdateNew Zealand draw the …
While I am hesitant to describe the Stanford Super Series as anything more than a fairly cynical money making exercise for the ECB, it is the only cricket show in town tonight and the Middlesex side in action against Trinidad and Tobago had a sizeable Irish and ex-Irish connection in the presence of Eoin Morgan and Ed Joyce. Unfortunately, they’ve missed out on a larger share of the Texan’s millions as the Caribbean side won their match comfortably by 5 …
Ireland’s emerging 13 man rugby team are in action today in Parramatta, NSW as they take on the team from Tonga. Ireland are in a tough group along with Samoa and will have to perform well above expectations to qualify for the later stages. In the last tournament in 2000 the Irish reached the quarter finals, losing to England in a tight game. After a pretty bruising 1st half, Tonga lead 12-10 – can Ireland stay in touch in the …
