Netherlands stun Ireland to qualify for finals

While there have been so many brilliant days for Irish Cricket in recent times this has to rank up there as one of the worst as Ireland crashed out of the World T20 after a 6 wicket defeat to the Netherlands in Sylhet.

To get in this position, Ireland had previously won 10 of their last 11 games in qualifying with the other game being a washout against Italy so to lose the most important game of that sequence will be a bitter pill to swallow.

Following Zimbabwe thrashing the United Arab Emirates in the earlier game, Ireland knew that nothing less than a win would be enough to get into the Super 10 stage and after Kevin O’Brien and Andrew Poynter blasted them to 189 off their 20 overs it looked as though it would be more than enough.

But the Dutch had other ideas as they broke all sorts of records to chase the score in less than the 14.2 overs that they had to achieve their unlikely goal of qualification.

They had earlier put Ireland into bat, the first time that this had happened in this tournament and Ireland had a steady opening ten overs in which William Porterfield and Ed Joyce both batted well which set a platform for Poynter and O’Brien to blitz the Dutch attack.

Both of the Irish batsmen scored 100 runs off the last 10 overs.  Poynter’s 57 was his first half century in any international format of the game. It included 8 boundaries as he dispatched the ball all around the small ground in Sylhet before he got out to the last ball of the innings. O’Brien supported superbly with 42* and it looked as if the game was well beyond the Dutch.

But they had other ideas.  To top the group on net run rate, they would have to score at a massive 13.3 runs an over. Their openers set about this superbly and put on an opening partnership of 91. This was mainly down to Stephan Myburgh who got to his 50 off just 17 balls and ended up with 63 before he pulled to Ed Joyce on the boundary off the bowling off Kevin O’Brien.

But this dismissal didn’t faze the Dutch. They continued to motor along and they eventually required less than a run a ball. Despite being on course for victory, it looked as though victory inside the 14.2 over period was unlikely. That was until Tom Cooper, the man widely regarded as the best player at associate level, came to the crease.

He continued his teams blitzing of the boundary as he clocked up 6 sixes which took the game past the world record number of maximums in a game which was one of four world records broken. But it could have been so different had Ed Joyce held onto a catch which would have seen Cooper depart for one.

He eventually did go for 45 but it was too little too late from Ireland’s point of view. Wesley Barresi and Ben Cooper seen Holland home with plenty of time to spare as it sparked scenes of wild celebration from everybody associated with Dutch cricket.