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Shoe on the other foot as rain deny Irish
England squeeze into Super Eights after rain-ruined contest
By Sean Devers
Seasonal rain in Guyana had helped West Indies advance to the Super Eights of the ICC 20/20 World Cup when they beat England at Providence on the Duckworth/Lewis system on Monday and England Skipper Paul Collinwood was quick to complain about the result of the rain affected match.
Yesterday rain again intervened but this time the shoe was on the other foot and it was the English who were smiling as rain denied Ireland from hunting down a disappointing 120-8 off 20 overs made by England.
When rain ended the contest, Ireland who upset Pakistan to advance to the second stage of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, were 14-1 from 3.3 overs after dominating a fragile looking English batting line-up with superb bowling and committed fielding in murky conditions.
Last evening the England Captain must have taken time off from lamenting about a Duckworth/Lewis system that everyone had agreed to before the tournament commenced to let his team know that another pathetic performance like yesterday’s would only result in England, the only major cricketing side without an ICC multi-nation trophy, leaving the Caribbean with nothing to show for their efforts as they did in the World Cup here three years ago.
England was the first country to introduce domestic 20/20 cricket in 2003 and are considered the ‘mother of cricket’ by many but they have never really dominated at World events having reached semi-finals just twice since their 1992 World Cup semi-final placing.
Yesterday the England side did little to suggest that they are capable of winning this tournament against their much less experienced neighbours and ironically it was the only Irish player in their side (Eoin Morgan) who top-scored for his adopted country with 45 from 37 balls with 5 fours.
Luke Wright (20) and openers Michael Lumb (14) and Craig Kieswetter (13) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures on a damp outfield and slow track for England who play Pakistan in the opening match of the Super Eights on Thursday in Barbados.
Although Ireland dropped a few catches, England were always going to struggle as Lumb, Kieswetter, Collingwood (0) and the potentially dangerous Kevin Pietersen (9) all departed inside 10 overs before England had reached 50.
Former Captain Trent Johnson was as mean as ever, conceding just 14 runs from his 4 overs with a wicket while 17-year-old left-arm spinner George Dockwell continued to impress with 0-19 from 4 while Boyd Rankin (2-25 from 4) and Kevin O’Brian (2-22 from 3) all combined to stifle the Englishmen.
Watched by good size crowd which included plenty of school children, Paul Sterling (0) pulled Ryan Sidebottom for Lumb to take a brilliant catch at deep mid-wicket with the score on 14 in the 2nd over before rain halted the contest.
When play resumed Niall O’Brian struck Sidebottom for consecutive boundaries before the heavy shower, which lasted well into yesterday evening washed away Ireland’s hopes of another upset win and saved the day for England as the teams shared a point each and England advanced on a better run rate.
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