jezzer wrote:Anyone watch the highlights of the Ireland UAE game last night?
What a stunning game. Went right down to the wire.
15 years ago, the words "mental toughness" and "Irish Sport" were never seen on the same page. Now, it seems like we're famous for it. What a turnaround in sports psyche on this little island of ours.
After Harrington, the Irish rugby team, Munster, Leinster, Katie Taylor and so many other role models with grit and composure under pressure, it's amazing to see how infectious that has become. Even the Irish football team's draw away with Germany was mainly achieved through composure and mental toughness.
Last night, watching the cricket team pull it together at the death - and doing it by taking calculated risks between the wickets and by slogging the ball when the chance came up, it shows how success breeds success not just inside a team or a sport, but in a country too.
The heroes of last night were the Wilsons, the Dockrells, the Balbirnies who were so composed at the crease in difficult circumstances. Bodes well for the rest of the tournament.
I got up to watch it live Jezzer........a great result in the end the way we gutsed it out but I think we effectively gave them another 100 runs to their total with undisciplined bowling..... Kevin O'Brien being a particular culprit. It made our run chase more difficult than it should have been. Like you say though, great mental strength on display and it was the UAE bowlers who couldn't keep it together at the end and apply the necessary pressure.
Yeah, for everything good Kevin did in the match he did something not so clever. For me it was Wilson and Dockrell who won that game.
The South Africa game will be a great barometer of where we really are. Be also interesting to see how we get on if we're put in to bat first.
Our lack of any pace ruthlessly exploited by the SA batsmen... I set the alarm for 3.30...woke, saw that ABdeV had won the toss and went back to bed. Good call me!
Hopefully we can get a respectable score...250+ ...that might limit the damage to our run rate?
Maybe knock 25-50 off their score and add the equivalent to ours and I'd have been quite happy with that result. SA are the best in the world and in peak form - we simply aren't at their level which is arguably a position we share with everybody else!
Take the positives (middle and lower order batting, resilience in the face of a potential world record loss, limiting a potentially very bad run rate impact in teh latter stages) and move on.
I would imagin this was always in the books for the team as a face saver rathe rthan any logical chance of a win.
The eggs are and probably have always been in the Zimbabwe basket with a few in the Pakistan basket and a hail Mary in the India basket.
Leinster jersey on the Great Wall of China.The Mongolians couldn't breach it but the Blues did!
blaker wrote:Maybe knock 25-50 off their score and add the equivalent to ours and I'd have been quite happy with that result. SA are the best in the world and in peak form - we simply aren't at their level which is arguably a position we share with everybody else!
Take the positives (middle and lower order batting, resilience in the face of a potential world record loss, limiting a potentially very bad run rate impact in teh latter stages) and move on.
I would imagin this was always in the books for the team as a face saver rathe rthan any logical chance of a win.
The eggs are and probably have always been in the Zimbabwe basket with a few in the Pakistan basket and a hail Mary in the India basket.
Add Rankin and Morgan into our side and the result could have been a lot better.
blockhead wrote:Now must beat Pakistan in last game.
To the non-fanatics waiting at the roadside to hop on to the wagon, how likely/unlikely is that?
"You'd better watch who you're calling a child, Lois. Because if I'm a child, you know what that makes you? A paedophile. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna be lectured by a pervert"
blockhead wrote:Now must beat Pakistan in last game.
To the non-fanatics waiting at the roadside to hop on to the wagon, how likely/unlikely is that?
We play India on Tuesday. No chance there, unless its rained off and we get a 1pt for the draw which would put us through to next round.
Pakistan will fancy their chances against us big time.
You know I'm going to lose,
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
blockhead wrote:Pakistan will fancy their chances against us big time.
Cheers for that. Hopefully, we'll fancy our chances against them too!
"You'd better watch who you're calling a child, Lois. Because if I'm a child, you know what that makes you? A paedophile. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna be lectured by a pervert"
England, coming off being crowned World Champions 10 days ago (thanks to Dublins own Eoin Morgan) have been bowled out for 85 in a single session by Ireland - something that has never happened to them at Lords. Ireland currently at 29-0 on day 1 of this 4 day test.
Although against a second string England side, Ireland yesterday beat England in a one day match beating their previous record chase set at the world cup in 2011.
play India on Tuesday. No chance there, unless its rained off and we get a 1pt for the draw which would put us through to next round. 