Cricket/Inter-Continental Cup: After a summer of failures, Ireland's top order batsmen finally showed what they are capable of, putting the Netherlands bowlers to the sword yesterday and nailing down a place in the world finals of the Inter-Continental Cup in Namibia at the end of October.
Too many times over the last couple of months, Ireland's batting had struggled early on. But yesterday in Stormont Jason Molins and Jeremy Bray put on 125 for the first wicket and then after Molins was caught by Tom de Grooth at midwicket for 53, Bray and Andre Botha accumulated a further 158 before Bray was eventually caught and bowled by Darron Reekers for a magnificent 135.
The Netherlands had needed to win this three-day game by a huge margin to overhaul Ireland at the top of the points table, but with the first day entirely washed out on Tuesday, and Ireland's huge total of 407 for 4 yesterday, any question of an away win can now be safely discounted. It is Ireland's highest total ever scored in Ireland and the fourth highest anywhere.
The idea for Ireland before this match was simple: win the toss and then bat the Dutch out of the game. And it has worked beautifully. Molins and Bray, who had been so effective together in 2004, recaptured that magic as they made the most of some weak Dutch bowling. Bray faced 198 balls and hit 20 fours on the way to his 135.
When Molins was out, Botha, who has had an ordinary season by his standards, also took the opportunity to fill his boots, although he was caught at point just three runs short of his century. The pain did not let up for Bas Zuiderent and his team as Dom Joyce (54) and Peter Gillespie (50 not out off 40 balls) also looked in fine touch when their turn came to bat.
While the most likely outcome is probably a draw, Ireland could still win this if they manage to bowl the Netherlands out twice before the close of play today.
They made good inroads yesterday evening, with Adrian McCoubrey removing opener Tom de Grooth and danger man Zuiderent while the young leg spinner trapped Maurits van Nierop lbw to leave the Dutch struggling on 56 for 3 at the close, needing another 252 runs to avoid the follow-on.
