ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

points to the full rather than going for outright victory. In several matches teams declared as soon as maximum batting points had been obtained to prevent the opposition from gaining further bowling points. The results in the Asia and Europe Groups were seriously influenced by the weather. Nepal beat the United Arab Emirates surprisingly easily in the Asia Group but finished half a point behind the Emirates overall because rain prevented them from completing the match against Hong Kong, a match which they would most likely have won. In the Europe Group, The Netherlands were very badly affected, losing three out of the six days of their two matches and were therefore never in a position to accumulate sufficient points to mount a challenge. With each country playing only two matches in the group stage, unfavourable weather can seriously affect the outcome with the potential to prevent the strongest team in the group from reaching the semi-final. If the standard of cricket rather than meteorological conditions is going to decide how teams fare, each country needs to play more matches or the scheduling, both timing and location, needs to take account of local climate and weather. Of all the countries in the competition, The Netherlands were also the most affected by the unavailability of players because employers would not grant leave for several days at a time. The United Arab Emirates experienced a similar problem for the semi-final when over one week’s leave was required to allow time to travel to Namibia a few days in advance in order to acclimatise. The semi-finals and finals also coincided with Ramadan which may have discouraged some of the Emirates’s players from participating because of the difficulty of combining all-day cricket in the Namibian summer with the daily fast. Compared to 2004, the batsmen in the competition fared better than the bowlers. There were four team totals over 400 instead of one and 15 centuries instead of thirteen. The highest individual score was 220 by Steve Tikolo of Kenya, the first double-century of the competition. Tikolo was the outstanding cricketer of the tournament, scoring 751 runs in his four matches, including three centuries. Jeremy Bray and Niall O’Brien (both of Ireland) and Clay Smith (Bermuda) each scored two centuries. As in the previous tournament, there were three team totals below 100, the lowest being 76 by the United Arab Emirates against Nepal, the lowest in the competition to date. Whilst there were 18 instances of a bowler taking five or more wickets in an innings in 2004, there were only 13 in 2005. Binod Das (Nepal) and Dwayne Leverock (Bermuda) achieved it twice, Das both times on his home ground at Kirtipur, and Leverock in both innings of the game against the Cayman Islands when his return of 11 for 72 was the only instance of ten or more wickets in a match. As in 2004, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates won their respective groups. Ireland won the Europe Group because of their victory over Scotland by the narrow margin of three runs. Bermuda were the surprise winners of the America Group, showing a marked improvement in performance on the previous year, whereas Canada were handicapped by the absence of John Davison and Ian Billcliff. For the semi-final and final Ireland were able to call on their English county players, Niall O’Brien and Eoin Morgan, and this transformed them into a powerful batting side, well able to match that of Kenya. In Trent Johnston they had the most astute captain of the tournament. It was his declaration in the final that so confused the Kenyans and set up the opportunity for Ireland to ensure that the trophy remained in Europe. One minor change was made to the bonus-points system. Instead of up to a maximum of six batting points being awarded in each innings, the number available for the first innings became unlimited whilst that for the second innings was restricted to a maximum of four. Ireland were clearly the most effective outfit, averaging 49.47 runs for each wicket, ten runs higher than the next best which was The Netherlands at 39.16. Unfortunately only one team from Europe could qualify for the semi-finals. Scotland’s batting disappointed, accumulating only 20.07 runs per wicket, down from 40.96 the year before. This did not give sufficient runs for the bowlers to defend, even though they had the most successful attack of the three European teams, conceding 19.95 runs per wicket taken, against Ireland’s 27.05 and 44.57 for The Netherlands. Nepal (11.15) and Hong Kong (15.60) both conceded fewer than 20 runs for each wicket, but these figures reflect the favourable conditions for pace and swing in the matches played at Kirtipur. Both these sides were let down by poor batting. Bermuda were the most improved team with their runs scored per wicket rising from 18.76 to 32.47 and runs conceded falling from 48 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2005