The Reverse Sweep

Cricket memories of 2011: Ireland beat England at the World Cup

England may have ended the year as kings of Test cricket, but their schizophrenic performances in the 50 over format continued: a 6-1 reverse in the tortuous seven match series with Australia followed swiftly on from the Ashes triumph (as it had in 2009) led on to a dismal World Cup before impressive home series wins over Sri Lanka and India were quickly forgotten with a predictable 5-0 whitewash in India.

But nothing quite matched the utter shock of defeat to Ireland in the World Cup.

England appeared to be coasting after reducing the underdogs to 106/4 in their pursuit of an imposing 328. Enter the unheralded Kevin O’Brien to wreak a completely unexpected carnage on England’s bowlers.

As the first couple of sixes went into the stands, we chuckled in admiration of O’Brien’s pluck and thought (as O’Brien perhaps did himself) that he may as well enjoy himself before the inevitable last rites on Ireland’s innings were read.

But as six followed six realisation soon dawned that something quite spectacular was unfolding before our eyes. By the time O’Brien had reached three figures and recorded the fastest World Cup ton, Ireland’s day in the sun was almost complete.

England’s bemusing World Cup, which had already seen a narrow win over the Netherlands and a thrilling tie with India (featuring a monumental hundred from Andrew Strauss) continued.

South Africa were sent choking on their way, before Bangladesh handed out a further embarrassing defeat, which meant that England had to beat West Indies in their final match to get out of the group. This they managed by the skin of their teeth before succumbing by 10 wickets to Sri Lanka in the quarter-final.

But even if England had somehow managed to lift the World Cup, the abiding memory of their tournament still would have been the sight of the portly pink-haired O’Brien and his team-mates celebrating a quite remarkable victory.

Where next?

Three reasons why (even as England fans) we’re pleased that Ireland beat England in the World Cup

An XI of unlikely World Cup heroes and a not so heroic 12th man

Kevin O'Brien milks it for all it's worth

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Kevin O'Brien milks it for all it's worth

We nearly choked on our crossiant this morning when we saw that Kevin O'Brien has an autobiography - Six After Six - out this week.

For those of you with short memories, O'Brien shot to fame earlier this year when he smashed the fastest ever World Cup century - off just 50 balls - to help Ireland stun England in Bangalore.

Granted it was a tremendous innings and some of the banter between him and the England side that day was indeed quite amusing, but does it really justify a book?

Of course it doesn't. O'Brien eventually scored 113 runs off 63 balls, so even devoting one page to each ball would make it the slimmest autobiography since Lady Jane Grey decided to kill some time in the Tower of London before her execution to write an account of her nine days as Queen of England in 1553.

Other than his once in a lifetime innings, O'Brien has hardly set the cricket world alight, so it's hard to imagine what else he will be able to include in the story of his life.

I suppose it is indicative of today's society where people in their early twenties with just 15 fleeting minutes of fame feel justified in writing an autobiography of their lives - one former page 3 girl who habitually 'stars' in ghastly reality television shows seems to release an autobiography each week.

So there may be a market out there for O'Brien's book - although we suspect that he'll struggle to shift more than the number of runs he scored on that momentous day in Bangalore.

Where next?

Three reasons why (even as England fans) we’re pleased that Ireland beat England in the World Cup

An XI of unlikely World Cup heroes and a not so heroic 12th man

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

 

Arrogant ICC takes the magic out of the World Cup by killing the Associates

 

To make a dreadful decision once that provokes an outcry of disgust from the people that follow your sport is bad enough.

To do it again having seemingly agreed to review your erroneous decision is not only unforgivable but downright arrogant and stupid.

Everyone agrees that the Cricket World Cup is too long and that the last three editions have had too many meaningless matches.

But getting rid of the Associate nations and depriving them even of the chance to try and qualify for the tournament is not the answer.

It is the decision of a corrupt, out of touch and money grabbing organisation that wants to make the World Cup an exclusive old boys network – if you are not a full member you will be summarily removed and evicted for a minimum of eight years.

As we’ve written before, one of the ICC’s main objectives should be to spread the game of cricket worldwide.

Instead the decision to limit participation in the next World Cup to its 10 full members effectively makes cricket a closed shop.

Some of the most memorable moments in World Cup history have seen David upset Goliath.

Sri Lanka beat India in 1979 and were subsequently awarded Test status. In 1983, Zimbabwe stunned Australia at Trent Bridge. Kenya beat West Indies in 1996 and then triumphed over Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe en route to the semi-final in 2003.

And who can forget Ireland? In the last two tournaments they have beaten Pakistan, Bangladesh and England as well as achieving a tie with Zimbabwe – who they are actually higher than in the ICC’s own ODI rankings.

Of course it was Ireland’s success in 2007 as well as Bangladesh surprising India that has inadvertently caused the ICC to act in this heinous manner.

The ICC was not prepared to tolerate the likes of India and Pakistan being knocked out in the group stages.

It hit them where it hurts grubby administrators most – in the pocket.

Hence the two groups of seven in the recently completed World Cup.

Even if one of the Associates managed to surprise a full member – as Ireland memorably did to England, the chances of them progressing to the quarter-finals were still thin as they would need to beat at least one other full member.

It’s called taking the magic out of the cup.

The ICC should expand the tournament not contract it.

It’s quite simple really. Four groups of four with the top two in each group going through to the quarter-finals.

Not only does it help spread the wonderful game of cricket worldwide, it also produces a shorter tournament with 31 matches instead of the 49 we had this time.

And it means every game matters.

By losing to Ireland, England would probably have been knocked out if they had been in a group of four. And they would have deserved it.

So instead of seeing the story of Irish cricket develop and the probable debut of Afghanistan in the World Cup (and who wouldn't shed a tear if that happened), we will be subjected to a members only dirge.

It stinks.

So, please follow the advice of cricketwithballs and tell the ICC exactly what you think about their shameful decision. You can contact them by email at [email protected] or you via Twitter @cricketicc.

Go on, your World Cup depends upon it.

Where next?

Our best XI of the 2011 World Cup

Bruce Springsteen was born to run, MS Dhoni was born to lead

Netherlands 1 ICC 0

REVEALED: The ICC's plans for the 2015 Groundhog Day Cricket World Cup 

An XI of unlikely World Cup heroes and a not so heroic 12th man

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

An XI of unlikely World Cup heroes and a not so heroic 12th man

 
We had a go at naming a composite Associates/Zimbabwe XIearlier in the tournament, which we posted with especially poor timing just hours before Kevin O’Brien committed GBH on the England bowlers in Bangalore.

This XI is different. It is a team of unlikely heroes (and an even more unlikely and much less heroic 12th man) who have mostly starred for the Associates during the World Cup and shown exactly why their presence in the ICC’s premier limited overs tournament should be absolutely mandatory. There are a couple of ringers in there too from full members, but neither would look out of place in an Associate side.

They came, they saw, they mostly didn’t conquer, but they added fun and colour to an otherwise tedious and elongated opening group phase.

Hiral Patel (Canada) – Faced with the heavy artillery of Tait, Lee and Johnson, 19 year old Patel came out with all guns blazing to compile an exhilarating 37 ball 50. The kind of guy who'd happily take a bullet for you.

Paul Stirling (Ireland) – Not only impressed with a 70-ball hundred against The Netherlands and his useful off-breaks, but also has the best jingle on Test Match Sofa. That alone earns him hero status.

Ashish Bagai (Canada)– Looked reasonable with the gloves, but it was his batting that really impressed with 225 runs at 45 including 84 against New Zealand and 64 not out against Kenya to earn his side their solitary win.

Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands)– The man they call “Ten inches” started the tournament with an unlikely ODI average in the high sixties and amazingly maintained it with a truly marvelous hundred against England. Also scored a ton against Ireland and finished with 307 runs at 61.40.

Collins Obuya (Kenya) – A really unlikely story. Impressed as a young leg-spinner in Kenya’s march to the semi-finals in 2003, and then reinvented himself as a top order batsman after getting the yips. Scored 242 runs at 60.50 despite playing in the worst side in the tournament and the fact that he finished on 98 not out against Australia, if anything, makes his story more heroic.

Kevin O’Brien (Ireland)– Came to the crease against England as a fat bloke with pink hair and then proceeded to morph into the bastard child of Gary Sobers and Viv Richards with his memorable never-to-be-forgotten 50 ball hundred. Surely, the IPL awaits.

Peter Borren (Netherlands)– If there is ever a remake of Robocop, Borren should be cast in the title role as he looks one mean and moody geezer. We daren’t leave him out, would you?

Darren Sammy (West Indies) – We like Sammy at The Reverse Sweep – he is definitely the coolest and most relaxed skipper at the World Cup. But let’s face it if he wasn’t captain, he wouldn’t be in the side. But Sammy doesn’t care and happily opens the bowling and promotes himself up the order. And we love that.

James Tredwell (England)– England’s erstwhile drinks waiter was pitched into battle in the do or die conflict with the West Indies and promptly proved that he could do more than mix a mean gin and tonic by snaring the rampaging Chris Gayle with his fifth ball – his first ODI wicket – and grabbing three more wickets thereafter.

Harvir Baidwan (Canada) – His 13 wickets in the tournament place him joint 3rd on the leading wicket takers list. That warrants selection alone. The fact that he got Shane Watson out in the nineties seals it.

Nehamiah Odhiambo (Kenya)– Murali is known for his winning smile, but it is easy to grin when you can tease and torment batsmen at will. Odhiambo only has a modicum of Murali’s talent, but if anything has an even bigger smile. He made us smile too when he got Shane Watson's wicket and Michael Clarke out in the nineties in the game against Australia.

12th Man – Kevin Pietersen (England)– Despite a long term of duty and several war wounds, Pietersen bravely pitched up at the World Cup and battled through England’s first four matches. Finally, with Andy Flower’s praises ringing in his ear, KP went home early for an emergency operation and some deserved convalescence. The wimp.

Where next?

England's World Cup of total and utter anarchy

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

Three reasons why (even as England fans) we’re pleased that Ireland beat England in the World Cup

 
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?

Netherlands 1 ICC 0

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