Ireland bowed out of the World Cup in India yesterday after a 139 run defeat by New Zealand in their quarter-final match in Bombay. The New Zealanders, joint top seeds with England in the tournament, batted first and put on 244 for 3, a target that proved well beyond the reach of the Irish who could only score 104-9 in their 50 over-innings.
"They were in a league of their own," conceded Irish captain Miriam Grealey after the match. "We did our very best and had a go at them but they were just too good. Our bowlers did very well, we were delighted with their performance but New Zealand just have too many class players."
Openers Debbie Hockley, the world's most capped woman cricketer, and Emilie Drumm shared a stand of 121 to send New Zealand on their way to, what proved to be, an unreachable target. The stand was finally broken when 16-year-old off-spinner Clare Shillington, of Belfast Ladies, took the prize wicket of Hockley, who scored 70, and Malahide's Caitriona Beggs dismissed Drumm for 60.
Auckland's Shelley Fruin added another 33 to the total, before being bowled lbw by Barbara McDonald, with Katrina Withers and captain Maia Lewis bringing the score to 244.
Once Beggs was caught for one, by Rebecca Rolls off the bowling of Clare Nicholson, Ireland's task was of the mountainous variety. Only McDonald (14) and Nikki Squire (16) reached double figures, as the Irish batting line-up struggled to cope with the bowling of Kathryn Ramel and Kelly Brown, who took two wickets apiece.
"When we lost the early wickets we knew we were never going to reach the target so our main aim was to bat it out for the 50 overs, which we managed to do," said Grealey. "Everyone bowled well - Catherine O'Neill, Adele Spence, Barbara McDonald and Caitriona Beggs. I was particularly delighted for Clare Shillington, considering her age, she did fantastically well and took Debbie Hockley's wicket, which was brilliant."
"The whole trip was a great experience, if a little exhausting. We seemed to have spent most of the time flying around the country, but it's been the same for everyone. Australia, New Zealand, England and India have proved they're in the first division of women's cricket, South Africa aren't too far behind and I think we've proved that we're the best of the minnows."
"We learned a lot. We came here with a very young, inexperienced team and we couldn't have asked for any more from them. I think we've finished up about sixth in the world and we're happy with that."
New Zealand now go on to contest Friday's semi-final against England in Madras while Australia meet India in New Delhi tomorrow. The Irish squad fly to Calcutta today, where they will attend Monday's final, before flying home on December 30th.
