CRICKET/World Cup:Unbelievable. No other way to put it. Ireland's cricketer's came back from the dead to tie their first ever World Cup game, at Sabina Park in Jamaica. At no stage during the 100 overs were Ireland in the game. But the team's never-say-die spirit set up one of the great finishes in this tournament's 32 year history, writes Richard Gillisin Sabina Park.
Saved from certain loss by a brilliant undefeated century by man of the match Jeremy Bray earlier in the day, Ireland hustled Zimbabwe to a result unlikely with even two overs to go.
The final scenes of the day were of joy unconfined as the players, backroom staff and the thousand travelling supporters ran amok in the Kingston sun.
The start of the day went perfectly to plan: win toss, insert opposition, exploit early cloud cover to strike early and remove the top order. The bad news is it was Zimbabwe not Ireland who carried it out to the letter.
On a pitch showing more grass than Tuesday's West Indies and Pakistan clash, the first four Irish wickets fell in the first hour.
At 9.25am Jamaica time, opening batsmen Jeremy Bray and William Porterfield walked out from beneath the giant North Stand to begin Ireland's first World Cup fixture. The thousand or so Irish supporters who had made the journey gave them a rousing welcome before the pair stood ready for a few nervous minutes before play began.
Twenty-two-year-old Porterfield from the Rush club faced up to the first ball, delivered by Christopher Impofu, Zimbabwe's tall, rangy medium pace opening bowler.
A few moments later the Irishman was walking back, caught behind off a lifting delivery without scoring. It was left to Bray to score Ireland's first runs, a push past cover point's left hand for two.
There followed a brief period of consolidation as Eoin Morgan joined Bray in a stand of 42 in just over nine overs. Morgan showed a glimpse of his class with a sumptuous extra cover drive before he too was out caught at slip following a ball rising on off stump.
The Zimbabwe opening attack bowled a tight line to the lefthanded top five, using the conditions to extract movement off the pitch.
Niall O'Brien and Andre Botha came and went in quick succession as blip turned to slump.
O'Brien, recently moved from Kent to Northants, fended outside off stump and was caught by the wicket-keeper, while Botha had a disastrous lapse of judgment.
The South African-born batsman, a prolific run scorer in Ireland's colours, shouldered arms to leave a ball from Elton Chigumbura, only to watch helplessly as it took his off stump.
At 63 for 4, Ireland faced ignominy.
That they made 221 off their allotted 50 overs is entirely down to Bray, whose 115 off 137 balls will stand as one of the innings of this World Cup.
Fighting a sluggish pitch and a muggy, cloudy conditions, Bray timed the ball with certainty, building momentum as he went.
He is an imposing figure at the crease, standing over 6 feet tall with a build owing much to his day job as a fitness instructor. Like the best Australian batters he is comfortable playing square of the wicket off the back foot.
Two blistering square cuts cleared the boundary rope for six adding to his tally of ten fours.
His hundred came in 129 balls and was met by a rousing reception from the team's followers, by now decamped in the shade of the giant electronic scoreboard or scattered across the George Headley Stand to the south of the ground. Bray raised both hands in celebration, his bat held aloft to acknowledge the applause. He deserved every plaudit.
A total of 221 off their allotted 50 overs was perhaps 30 short of par. But Ireland were encouraged by a hostile opening spell by Boyd Rankin, the 6ft 8in fast medium bowler who is seking a county career with Derbyshire.
In one extraordinary over Rankin had Terrence Duffin twice dropped behind the wicket, by keeper O'Brien and Morgan at second slip, before O'Brien made amends, holding on to a third chance off the last ball of the over. He was supported at the George Headley end, David Langford Smith bustled in, moving the ball toward the slips, aided by a slight cross wind.
The early part of the Zimbabwe innings was dominated by 23-year-old Vusi Sibanda, born and brought up in the black Harare township of Highfield.
His 67 was full of strokes that belied a career average in the 20s. Zimbabwe were cruising at above an asking rate that never rose above five an over with wickets in hand, a priceless commodity.
Off spinner Kyle McCallan built pressure from the North Stand end on a pitch turned brown in the afternoon sun. Sibanda fell to Andrew White's off spin, and was quickly followed by Chigumbura and Williams. For all their efforts, the blade of Stuart Matsikenyeri seemed too broad, and his innings of 73 seemed certain to see them home.
But as wickets fell at the other end, incoming batsmen panic set in.
Two wickets fell in the penultimate over bowled by Kevin O'Brien, and suddenly, Zimbabwe needed 9 to win off the final over with one wicket in hand. An incredible turnaround.
Andrew White's tension-filled last over was a blur of misfields, dropped catches and panic, culminating in Mpofu's run out off the final ball.
Cue scenes of delirium.
