Dramatic Irish World Cup Debut
It’s half three in the morning and I’m taking a break from painting pictures of Ireland where it never rains, the sky is always yellow, and other such cliches.
Yesterday during another break I had about as much excitement as a person can have by clicking refresh on a computer to watch new words appear. On a computer in Kansas City, looking at British website about an event in Jamaica.
I’ve no idea if Ireland itself is showing any of the Cricket World Cup, and for all I know it could be all the rage on Kansas City TV screens. In between games of college basketball that is.
Ireland made their debut in the World Cup against Zimbabwe, a team like its country in some difficulty these days and not exactly a world power. General wisdom has it that Ireland’s group of adopted sons and oddities can bat a little bit but their inabilty to bowl is likely to prevent them causing an upset to break out of their four-team group and qualify for the Super-8 round.
Zimbabwe won the toss, and opted to let Ireland bat first. Largely thanks to a century by an Australian born man called Bray, Ireland put 221 runs on the scoreboard, losing 9 wickets in the 50 overs. So the scene was set for Ireland to have a chance.
Zimbabwe at first scored runs like it’s no issue that they’ll pass Ireland’s total, with Sibanda getting 67 runs before he somehow stepped on his own stumps and then several wickets later Ireland had a real chance, though you got the impression it was purely from wickets as Ireland’s bowling seemed inable to restrict runs too well.
Then a Zimbawean named Matsikenyeri took over and guided his team to what seemed like a formality until losing their next wicket, the sixth, at 203 runs, and you wondered. And then the final three overs happened.
Just 18 balls and still you would expect Zimbabwe to win. But when Matsikenyeri wasn’t the batter on strike Ireland took wickets at 212 and 213 and again at 213 runs for Zimbabwe. Suddenly we were at the last over of fifty, just six balls to go so, and Zimbabwe needed 9 runs to win, but with no wickets to spare.
Matsikenyeri was back on strike and resumed adding the runs. On the second last ball, I think, Ireland fingertipped the ball in what would have been a winning catch. Instead we ended up at the last ball of the game, with both teams on 221. Amazingly Matsikenyeri, on 73 runs, swung and missed, and the other batsman was run out to leave Zimbabwe on 221 all out.
So it was a tie, and only the third tie ever in World Cup cricket.
It should be noted that a tie does not mean simply a draw as it does in most American sports. A draw in test cricket means neither team has beaten the other team - it’s inconclusive. If you haven’t bowled out the other team in the allotted time then it doesn’t matter that you have scored more runs - this is a very common occurrence (though doesn’t apply to limited overs games like the World Cup). Watching teams try to hold on for a draw is very much a part of cricket. A tie however is an identical score by both teams and is very rare.
I don’t want to give the impression that cricket is a very popular sport in Ireland. It’s not. I’ve only ever witnessed it being played in two locations, and it would be wrong to suggest there are legions of Irish people who care. I’ve only ever known one, and didn’t care myself until I moved to England in my twenties and went to watch the West Indies’ Richie Richardson’s first century in a test match. And I loved the rhythm of a game where huge numbers of seated fans are actually asleep for long periods getting sunburned.
I have had Americans in Kansas City tell me that cricket is one of the main games played in Ireland though. Whether these people confuse Ireland with England (plausible) or half-hear something on World News Today In 60 Seconds (even more plausible), I don’t know, so I usually play it safe and tell them it’s not as big as Sumo.
Like Irish hurlers on a Gaelic pitch amidst the gorse, and American baseball players on a diamond in the corn, a group of people dressed in white playing cricket on an English village green is a beautiful iconic image of a nation.
There are 150 cricket clubs in Ireland, with the cities of Dublin, Belfast and Derry being the strongest areas. Last year Ireland played their first official ODI (One Day International). They were beaten by England but not disgraced which you might have expected.
Here’s a beginner’s guide to cricket from Ed Leahy on RTE
Ireland should get thrashed by the West Indies, after first getting thrashed by Pakistan on St Patrick’s Day - but we won’t be watching will we Kansas City? No, because we’ll all be in the pub watching Ireland live against Italy as the Irish rugby team wins its first Six Nations Championship since 1985, hurray!
Or we would be if enough people wanted to watch it that a pub could afford to pay Setanta to show it. Still, we’ll be in the pubs anyway, ey? And wearing green. Hmm.
Other Stuff on Sport Smothered in Irish Nostalgia:
• Meeting Diego Maradona in Ireland
• Irish Lose: O Dear, O-dear O-dear O-dear
• Wearing Green and Ignoring Ireland
• Ireland & USA: Little Differences #2 - Watching Soccer
• Is Kansas City more Irish than the Cayman Islands?
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