England did not have a bowling plan and Ireland took full advantage, says centurion Kevin O'Brien
As John Mooney was engulfed by his team-mates one Irish voice was picked up by the microphones screaming “this is the greatest day of my life”.
You beauty: Ireland's John Mooney celebrates with Kevin O'Brien after the remarkable victory over England Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Nick Hoult, in Bangalore 9:42PM GMT 02 Mar 2011
Nick's Twitter
Comments
Irish joy was unbridled as the players celebrated on the outfield of the Chinnaswamy Stadium a famous victory over England, the near neighbour that deigns to play them once every two years and even controls their television rights deal.
Brendan O’Brien, himself a former Ireland player, watched from the stands as his son Kevin played a truly magnificent innings, combining the stroke play and power learned playing in his back garden with brother Niall, the Irish wicketkeeper.
“It is the biggest win Ireland cricket has ever had,” said William Porterfield, the Ireland captain. “We won against Pakistan but in terms of a one-off win it is the biggest.
“From a personal point of view, and I speak for a lot of Irish teams and not just cricket, beating England in any form of sport is a fantastic occasion. There will be a lot of people back home watching and we gave them something to smile about.
“It is good to show what we have been threatening to do for a while. We have believed for a long time we can go out there and do things like that, but it is different to actually go out there and do it.”
It took an Irishman not deemed good enough for county cricket to say what England have refused to admit in this tournament. Their bowling simply is not up to standard and O’Brien was as direct with his words as he was with his batting when summing up their failings.
“We took our chance and got the ball rolling and they did not have any answers for us,” he said. “They did not know what they were up to with their bowling plans and we took advantage of that. We were down to a run a ball and they were not hitting their straps or getting their yorkers right. They were given us a fourball every over and we knew if we just sat on it, hit the bad balls for four then we would walk to victory.”
And they did walk to victory, easing England aside like one of the great one-day sides of the past except this was an associate nation bereft of IPL stars and Ashes winners.
O’Brien admitted he thought his side had little chance when he walked to the crease with 222 needed for victory, a fanciful thought at the time but one that became a reality once they attacked in the power play.
“We bat a long way down but England were favourites and had the upper hand,” he said. “Myself and Cusack just took a chance by taking the power play and it came off. You can’t write yourself off in one-day cricket. Strange things happen. Once we got a few boundaries away we thought we could get on top of the English bowlers as other teams have in this tournament.”
john mooney, getty images, remarkable victory, county cricket, stroke play, irish teams, team mates, wicketkeeper, irish voice, television rights, rsquo online, personal point, porterfield, o brien, irishman, outfield, centurion, neighbour, bangalore, microphones
No comments:
Post a Comment