Ireland Cricket News
Group A concludes with another nail-biter as Shaheen Shah Afridi helps Pakistan to a three-wicket win in Florida
How will the pitch behave after so much rain? We will find out shortly. Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie prepare to face Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Ireland belt out theirs, arms round each others shoulders. Pakistan’s military-style ditty is a palm on hearts affair. Babar, face plastered in suncream, looks pensive.
Continue reading...The co-hosts USA reached the second group stage and eliminated Pakistan on an historic if damp day in Florida
Meanwhile, in Group B…
The outfield is still very wet, so there will be another inspection at 11.30am local/4.30pm BST. If I had to bet the farm I’d say the match will be washed out because of further rain, but I’m thousands of miles away so I’m not sure what the point of this sentence is.
Continue reading...India won emphatically in New York after their quick bowlers bulldozed Ireland for 96 on a very lively pitch
1st over: Ireland 3-0 (Balbirnie 1, Stirling 2) Stirling walks down the track to time his first ball through the covers for … two. That would have been four on most grounds.
There’s a bit of swing for Arshdeep, who beats Stirling with a ball that keeps a bit low. Stirling’s second and third attempts to walk down the track are less successful; Arshdeep cramps him for room with one delivery and then zips a bouncer past his noggin. A really good start.
Continue reading...Our special board of selectors announces the picks for the best men’s Test XI of the past 12 months
After 32 Tests, 33,408 runs, 1,016 wickets, it’s time at last for the Guardian’s tenth annual men’s Test XI of the year. This year’s selectors were Vic Marks, Ali Martin, Rob Smyth, Tanya Aldred, Taha Hashim, Geoff Lemon, Adam Collins, Emma John, Tim de Lisle, Daniel Gallan and Andy Bull. Depressingly, some teams (South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh) played so little this year that it was hard to pick any of their players, which feels like a worrying sign of the way the game is going, but for now …
Continue reading...Ben Duckett, Phil Salt and Zak Crawley all starred with the bat before torrential rain brought a premature end to play in Bristol
5th over: England 65-0 (Salt 42, Jacks 22) Time for a bowling change, Paul Stirling reckons. On comes Craig Young, who has one job: to stem the flow. And he does, cramping the batters for room and going for just a run a ball. Miserly stuff.
4th over: England 60-0 (Salt 39, Jacks 19) Does Jacks settle for playing second fiddle? He does not. He has a gleam in his eye and he flicks Little’s first ball for six, then pulls for six more. Just for a change, Salt plays a straight drive for four. Alas, poor Little – when he does induce a top edge, it lands safely at short fine, and then Salt adds another four. That’s 23 off the over! And the fastest 50 in England ODI history.
Continue reading...For England’s looming World Cup defence in India a gaggle of players will sit in reserve back home and it may just be that Ben Duckett is the best fit to jump on a plane should a batter go down injured during the tournament.
An option anywhere in the top seven and armed with an array of sweeps and reverse sweeps, the 28-year-old would offer Jos Buttler and the management excellent flexibility regardless of whether Jason Roy makes himself available. A pugnacious desire to get on with it – evidenced across all formats – is another thing to pop in the pros column.
Continue reading...A week ago, Ben Stokes had never met Josh Tongue. But as the England captain heads into the Ashes series with questions over his own fitness, he fancies an additional fast bowler has been found to augment his attack.
Tongue was already in the 16-man squad for the first two Tests against Australia before completing a maiden five-wicket haul on debut at Lord’s, with England, a team in a hurry, naming the group at lunch on the third and final day against Ireland.
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