ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

play all their matches away. The Dutch then requested to play all their matches outside of their home season so that their cricketers attached to English counties, namely Ryan ten Doeschate and Alexei Kervezee, would be available. Their “home” games were therefore played in Pretoria, South Africa, in November and December 2006. Namibia duly won the qualifying match when Nepal’s batsmen struggled in wet conditions at Windhoek, although Nepal fared better than the United Arab Emirates who gave a dreadful performance, losing in two days and by an innings at the same venue. The competition was notable for some very one-sided contests as teams found it difficult playing away in sometimes alien conditions. Namibia never adjusted to the cool, wet and wind of Dublin and Aberdeen, and Canada fared equally poorly in England, at Leicester, on the neutral ground of the final. Overall though, batsmen did well in the competition. There were seven innings totals over 400, the highest being 620 by Bermuda, and only three below 100, the lowest being 92 by Canada in the final. Nineteen centuries were scored, four of these being double hundreds, all of them undefeated, with Ryan ten Doeschate’s the highest at 259. Ten Doeschate was the only player to make more than one hundred and he made four, two of them in one match against Bermuda. Excluding the qualifying match, there were sixteen instances of bowlers taking five or more wickets in an innings, with Canada’s Umar Bhatti achieving this three times. He also performed the hat-trick against Ireland in the final in a spell of four wickets in five balls, all leg-before-wicket. The best bowling return was eight for 34 by Ian van Zyl for Namibia, the high point of his country’s visit to Europe. Dougie Lockhart, Scotland’s stand-in wicketkeeper when Colin Smith was unavailable, made six catches in one innings against the United Arab Emirates. Ireland won the competition for the second year running and were clearly the most proficient side. They not only averaged 32.15 runs per wicket but, more importantly, were able to dismiss the opposition cheaply, conceding only 15.04 runs per wicket taken. Their performances improved as the competition progressed, despite the absence of Niall O’Brien for their last group match and O’Brien and Boyd Rankin for the final. They were closely matched in Group A by Scotland, the latter having the better of their head-to-head in a drawn match affected by rain. Ireland won the group by gaining an easy victory over the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, whereas Scotland only managed to draw against the Emirates in Sharjah. The Emirates were disappointing. The only Asian representatives and Asian Group winners for the previous two competitions, they were outclassed by Ireland and Namibia, and were too defensive against Scotland, preferring to play for a draw when an imaginative declaration on the final morning might have given a chance of victory. They were clearly the weakest side in the competition, scoring only 23.17 runs per wicket and conceding 47.39. Namibia performed well with the ball, conceding only 19.29 runs per wicket but their batting was not strong enough, particularly when confronted with the moving ball in damp European conditions; they averaged a mere 18.98 per wicket. Canada won Group B with surprising ease but with the advantage of playing two of their three games at home, both of which they won. A defeat by The Netherlands on neutral ground in Pretoria was not sufficient to cause a problem because the Dutch had been restricted to draws against Kenya and Bermuda, largely because of their inability to bowl the opposition out. The Dutch averaged 45.35 runs per wicket, higher than Ireland, mainly due to the performances of ten Doeschate, but their bowlers conceded 39.38. Bermuda also scored over 30 runs per wicket (33.71), greatly assisted by Hemp’s undefeated double hundred. As in the first competition, the final was a disappointment with Canada giving a hapless display in typically early English summer conditions at Leicester, conditions with which the Irish were undoubtedly more familiar. 82 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006-07