Cricket ICC TrophyFor as long as anyone can remember, players and enthusiasts in Ireland have dreamed of seeing a team from this island pitting their talents against the very best in the world in a meaningful competition. The waiting is almost over as yesterday Ireland qualified for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies by beating Denmark by 73 runs at Bangor.
It has been a long time coming. Ireland first took part in the ICC Trophy in 1994, and since then it has been a pretty miserable competition for them, travelling to Kenya, Malaysia and Canada with great expectations but ultimately no success.
The hideous ghosts of Kuala Lumpur (1997) and Toronto (2001), in particular, can now be laid to rest as Adrian Birrell's team look forward to taking on the likes of England, Australia and India in the Caribbean in less than two years' time.
"Getting to the World Cup was our main aim and we're there," said coach Birrell, who noted that despite making it through to the semi-finals, his team was not playing particularly well.
"It has taken three-and-a-half years of planning to do this. My overriding emotion is relief, because anything could have happened. We have been a bit under pressure this week so, having qualified, hopefully we can relax and play good cricket from now on," he said.
Skipper Jason Molins was a bit more animated than his coach.
"I am delighted," said Molins. "This is huge for Irish cricket. To fail would have been a tragedy. We will be playing against the best in the world and it'll certainly heighten awareness for the game in this country," he said.
Yet again in this competition, the Irish top order failed to get the team off to a good start and it was up to the middle and tail to bail them out of trouble.
As he has done in every game so far, Ed Joyce was at the heart of the first serious partnership of the day. The Middlesex left-hander and Peter Gillespie put on 95 for the fourth wicket as Ireland had stumbled to 28 for 3. As he stroked the ball into the gaps and occasionally hit over the infield, it looked liked Joyce was heading inexorably towards his third century of the tournament.
But when leg-spinner Bobby Chawla bowled him a full toss his eyes lit up and he holed out to Niels-Peter Kopperholdt on the deep midwicket boundary.
And when Trent Johnston and Andy White were dismissed soon afterwards, it looked like a total well under 200 was on the cards.
It was time for a Joycean epiphany one again. Ed's kid brother Dom was in no mood to let his sibling take all the glory and promptly set about helping Ireland post a respectable total.
He found the middle of his bat from the off and scored his 50 off just 36 balls - hugely impressive in dull, drizzly conditions.
Ireland got to 222 all out - an eminently gettable total - but not only did Denmark need to score those runs to go top of Section A, such was Ireland's favourable net run-rate, they needed to do so in 29.2 overs.
Not likely. Ireland's bowlers started well, and the Danes never engaged the target.
Tomorrow Ireland will take on Canada, who had an easy win over Papua New Guinea, in the first semi-final in Clontarf.
The other semi-final will be on Monday between Scotland and surprise packages Bermuda, with the Netherlands, Denmark, UAE and Namibia playing off for the fifth and last remaining qualification spot in the World Cup.
ICC TROPHY - GROUP B
Ireland Innings
J Molins c Singh b H Hansen 2
J Bray c M Pedersen b H Hansen 12
A Botha c Singh b H Hansen 0
E Joyce c Kopperholdt b Chawla 60
P Gillespie c C Pedersen b Chawla 40
T Johnston c Singh b Chawla 0
A White b Malcolm-Hansen 11
D Joyce b Borchersen 50
K McCallan st Singh b Borchersen 13
P Mooney b Borchersen 3
A McCoubrey not out 1
Extras (b 4, lb 7, w 19) 30
Total (all out, 49.4 overs) ... 222
Fall: 1-11, 2-16, 3-28, 4-123, 5-124, 6-151, 7-161, 8-210, 9-221
Bowling: T Hansen 6 0 31 1 H Hansen 6 0 29 2 NP Kopperholdt 10 0 37 0 D Borchersen 8.4 0 42 3 R Malcolm-Hansen 10 0 30 1 A Chawla 9 0 42 3.
Denmark Innings
B Singh ct E Joyce b T Johnson 57
R Ali ct Bray b P P Mooney 0
C Petersen ct Bray b T Johnson 0
A Ahmed ct Bray b P Mooney 4
R M Hansen b McCallan 21
T Hansen ct Bray b Botha 8
M Pedersen lbw b T Johnson 19
A Chawla c+b A White 6
D Borchersen c Botha b A White 3
H Hansen c+b A White 1
NP Kopperholdt not out 1
Extras (lb 7, nb 3, w 19) 29
Total (all out, 39.2 overs) ... 149
Fall: 1-3, 2-14, 3-32, 4-69, 5-96, 6-131, 7-138, 8-145, 9-146
Bowling: T Johnson 8 0 23 3 P Mooney 6 1 23 2 A McCoubrey 3 0 5 0 A Botha 7 0 1 K McCallan 10 4 23 1 A White 5.2 0 3.
Ireland won by 73 runs
