As we listened to Test Match Sofa yesterday in increasing dumbstruck horror as Ireland and England played out a cricket version of Stars In Their Eyes, part of us wanted Ireland to complete their remarkable fightback.
Despite the insults, the barbs and the merciless sledging that will now be directed at England and its supporters we still feel the same way today.
Here’s three reasons why:
1. Everyone loves it when David upsets Goliath
Ireland’s victory has electrified a fairly drab World Cup and made a mockery of the ICC’s idiotic decision to cut the number of participants in the next tournament from 14 to 10. Whilst the minnows will normally get well beaten by the giants, just occasionally David will upset the applecart and slay Goliath. It’s called the magic of the cup – perhaps someone should tell the ICC.
2. Kevin O’Brien’s monumental innings
There have been some pretty special innings already in this World Cup from the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Strauss, but Kevin O’Brien’s IPL audition topped the lot. Ireland’s position looked hopeless at 111 for five, so O’Brien started off just having a swing. Then he morphed into the bastard son of Viv Richards and Gary Sobers to bring up the fastest hundred in World Cup history. Finally, he swiftly moved down the gears once he had reached his ton and Ireland just required singles to get over the line. Simply brilliant. So, why didn’t we include him in our Associate Composite XI then? Hmmm.
3. England got what they deserved
After a mighty fright against the Netherlands in their opening match you’d have thought England would have learned. Not a bit of it. Woeful bowling, uninspiring captaincy and a collective fielding effort that would have made Kamran Akmal blush saw routine victory turned into the most ignominious of defeats. If England don’t improve rapidly with ball in hand and in the field they won’t even make the quarter-finals.
Where next?
Cricket Heroes: Test Match Sofa
Read about our cricket heroes and zeroes
Check out our Reverse Sweep XIs
Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
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