ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

IRELAND v CANADA Ireland was experiencing a particularly wet August. Over 30 mm of rain were recorded over the three days prior to the scheduled start by which time both the pitch and the outfield were far too wet for play. By mid afternoon of the first day, the umpires and the two sides agreed to abandon the prepared pitch in favour of an adjacent drier one, with the expectation that play would be possible by early evening. Just as the umpires were emerging from the pavilion at 6.00 pm, the rain restarted and so play was not possible. The second day began sunny but far from warm. Indeed, throughout the match conditions could be described as cool at best, as the temperature struggled to pass 20° C, which it managed briefly on the third day. The Irish openers batted safely against the Canadian seam bowlers, putting on 64 runs before Sanjay Thuraisingam got a delivery to cut back off the pitch and trap Reinhardt Strydom leg-before. Ireland continued cautiously but lost Paul Stirling and Andre Botha before lunch, when the score was 108 for three. After the interval, Andrew White took control, hitting Eion Katchay for successive fours and, with some fast running between the wickets, converting singles into twos, the score began to mount. Andrew Poynter edged a catch to the wicketkeeper to keep the match evenly poised but Kevin O’Brien worked well with White to put Ireland in a strong position. A fifth-wicket stand of 154 came in only 117 minutes with O’Brien hitting both Steve Welsh and Sunil Dhaniram for sixes. The score was 248 for four at tea. Ireland batted for a further eleven overs, O’Brien striking two more sixes, both off Sami Faridi. White reached his century, after which O’Brien, on 75, hit Welsh into the hands of Qaiser Ali at long on, trying to raise the scoring rate. Some 69% of O’Brien’s runs had come in boundaries. Trent Johnston did not stay long but Kyle McCallan and White added 25 runs in 22 balls, including 11 off Welsh in what turned out to be the last over of the innings. McCallan declared with White undefeated on 109 made off 144 balls. This allowed Ireland to bowl 16 overs before the end of the day during which Canada scored 31 runs but lost three wickets. The first was a piece of luck. Geoff Barnett stroked Peter Connell to McCallan at mid on and set off for a run; McCallan misfielded and the batsmen attempted a second run which gave time for the fieldsman to gather the ball and throw down the stumps at the bowler’s end with Ruvindu Gunasekara stranded in mid pitch. McCallan then took the two remaining wickets. On the third day, overnight rain delayed the start of play until 2.00 pm by which time an early lunch had been taken. Connell soon had Qaiser Ali caught by the wicketkeeper and Arvin Kandappah also went quickly, showing little appreciation of his team’s plight at 46 for four. Having hit a ball from Connell to the boundary, he then attempted to repeat the stroke, only to mis-hit the ball in the air, wide of mid off at shoulder height; Poynter made a splendid effort to hold the catch, diving and one-handed, but could not do so. In Connell’s next over, he attempted to drive a ball wide of off stump, got a thick edge and White, at third slip, dived to his right to bring off a spectacular one-handed catch. Dhaniram joined Barnett and, while the latter provided the anchor, the former set about the bowling with relish. He was especially severe on Greg Thompson whom he hit for 22 runs in two overs before taking 16 off an over from McCallan. His inspired batting, with a strike rate of 77.7, was interrupted by the tea interval, when Canada were 185 runs behind but with five wickets in hand and only 36 more required to avoid the follow-on. With play about to restart for the evening session, it rained torrentially for two hours during which time the outfield became a lake. By the next morning some 56 mm of rain had been received and the lake was still there. The decision of the umpires to abandon the match was straightforward. Both teams were awarded three points for a drawn game in which more than eight hours of play had been lost. This seemed a meagre award compared to the situation at Titwood, Glasgow, where the same weather conditions had prevented any play at all and both sides came away with ten points. 162 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08