ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

CANADA v IRELAND With Ashish Bagai back in the Canadian side, hopes for the host team were high but they were very quickly shattered when, batting first, they lost both openers to a good spell of pace bowling by Allan Eastwood, with only 5 runs on the board. Zubin Surkari and Bagai tried to mount a recovery but, when looking set, fell quickly in a surprising collapse which saw Canada lose four wickets for two runs. Trent Johnston took away the middle order and tail, taking five wickets for 23 in nine overs. Both Johnston and Eastwood were well supported by the new Irish wicketkeeper, Rory McCann, with five catches. Canada were dismissed for 120 in only 32 overs. Paul Stirling and McCann replied with an opening stand of 42 at a strike rate of 91.3. McCann’s contribution was a mere four runs in 17 balls, as Stirling dominated the strike. Soon after McCann was out, Stirling was missed in the covers before, three balls later, falling leg-before to Henry Osinde. The scoring rate slowed as Ireland chose to consolidate their position, aided by two further dropped catches. By the close, the visitors were 70 runs ahead. Kevin O’Brien, having passed fifty, was out just before stumps, George Dockrell coming in as nightwatchman to join Andrew White. Ireland just managed to retain their advantage over Canada on day two but for much of the time it looked as though the home side would come back into the game. Dockrell extended his innings to 30 balls in just over one hour’s stay but added only one run to his overnight score. The rest of the Irish tail were unable to cope with a hostile spell of pace bowling from Osinde. The worst casualty was Johnston who parried a short ball from his thumb on to his helmet, resulting in a cut above the left eye which needed six stitches. The incident meant that he took no further part in the match. Altogether Ireland lost their last six wickets for 76 runs of which White added 50 to take his score to 84, made in two hours and 42 minutes, before becoming one of Osinde’s five-wicket haul. Canada began strongly in their quest to make up the deficit of 141 runs. Nitish Kumar was caught at second slip by Stirling with the score on 30 but Ruvindu Gunasekara and Surkari put on 106 for the second wicket. Gunasekara was dropped twice whilst compiling 47 but, once Andre Botha broke the partnership, Canada lost wickets regularly to the swing bowling of O’Brien. As acting captain, he did not bring himself on until the sixth change but was immediately effective. Canada went from 169 for three to 188 for eight. Only Bagai looked competent during this stage of the game and he was dropped twice. However, he was undefeated at the close with Canada’s fate depending on how many runs he would make the following day. Bagai and Khurram Chauhan displayed the best batting of the match on the third morning. Combining careful defence with astute dispatching of any bad balls to the boundary, they enjoyed a ninth-wicket partnership of 121 to which both contributed 59. Their strike rate was a cautious 43.5. Possibly the innings went on longer than was necessary as O’Brien inexplicably delayed taking the new ball for 16 overs. When he did, he accounted for both batsmen and gave himself a five-wicket return. Bagai was perhaps unlucky not to reach a century but his 90 runs came at a strike rate of 57.3, in a stay of four hours and 35 minutes. McCann made four catches to bring his tally for the match to nine without conceding any byes, an impressive display by Ireland’s third-choice wicketkeeper. Set 176 to win, the visitors began badly. McCann edged to second slip in the first over and Stirling, attempting his sixth boundary in an innings of 22, holed out to deep square leg. O’Brien was unable to repeat his bowling heroics with the bat and lasted only 21 balls but Botha and White provided some stability. Batting well with 61 runs off 84 balls, including nine fours, Botha went for a suicidal single and fell to an easy run-out. With the score on 124 and one hour still remaining, rain brought an end to the proceedings so the match had to go into the fourth day. White and Mooney prevented Canada from obtaining any more wickets and took Ireland to a six-wicket victory. The result was not straightforward, however, as after thirty minutes of play on the final day, the ground was hit by a thunderstorm. It looked as though, once again, Ireland’s chances of a win were to be a victim of the weather. However, the good drainage at the Cricket, Skating and Curling Club allowed the match to restart after a delay of five and a half hours. Six overs later, White pulled Umar Bhatti to mid wicket for the winning runs. Andrew White passed fifty in the second innings to add to his 84 in the first and was duly named Man of the Match. 212 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2009-10