ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2014

Rest of the World in 2013/14 All the matches in this section took place in either Namibia or the United Arab Emirates. The five games in Namibia consisted of that country’s home matches in the Provincial Three-Day Competition, essentially a South African tournament in which Namibia is invited to take part. This unique arrangement allows Namibia, as a leading non-Test nation, to measure its performance in competitive matches against other first-class sides. The results are not encouraging: even though the Three-Day Competition is only South Africa’s second-string tournament, Namibia occupied last place for the third season in a row. At least they had the satisfaction of securing, in October 2013, their first win in this competition since November 2010 - and by an innings too. The final table for the Three-Day Competition will be found in the South Africa section. Namibia also featured in one of the matches in the UAE, as the 2011-2013 edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup draw to its close with the final two matches in the league stage, and the final. The league matches were played for pride only, since they could have no bearing on the all-important top two positions, which confer the right to contest the final. It had been clear for months that they would be filled by Ireland and Afghanistan. In the final, which was a hard-fought match reflecting credit on both sides, Ireland overcame a shaky start to prevail by 122 runs, with the match return of 10-81 by medium-pacer John Mooney as the standout performance. Thus Afghanistan, as defending champions, had to relinquish the cup to Ireland, who have now claimed it on four of the six occasions it has been contested (apart from Afghanistan’s win in 2010, Scotland won the inaugural Cup in 2004). The UAE also continued in its increasingly familiar role as a home-from-home for Pakistan in international cricket. In 2013/14 there were rubbers against South Africa (two Tests) and Sri Lanka (three). In the first, Pakistan could take great satisfaction from coming away with a well-earned 1-1 result (especially since the series came only weeks after the embarrassment of being held to a similar scoreline by lowly Zimbabwe). In the Sri Lanka series, Pakistan, having gone behind in the second Test, fought back in the third to claim a 1-1 result for the third rubber in succession. As is also becoming customary, MCC’s annual match against the English champion county (in this case Durham) was also played in the UAE: MCC won a close game by six wickets. Since the 2011-2013 edition of the Intercontinental Cup is now complete, and bearing in mind too that all ten full ICC members now receive a Test ranking, this seems an opportune moment to take stock of the strength, in the longer form of the game, of the leading non-Test nations. The first and most obvious point is that the top two in the Intercontinental table, Ireland and Afghanistan, the current and previous champions, far outdistance the rest. Each of them won five of their seven league matches (despite being handicapped, in Afghanistan’s case, by being unable to play at home); no one else could manage more than three (Namibia). Both were undefeated until Afghanistan lost the final, and it is a measure of their superiority that, of the nineteen league matches that resulted in a win, Ireland and Afghanistan contributed ten. Between these two top sides, all that can be said is that at present, Ireland enjoys a distinct edge over its closest rival. Besides winning the Intercontinental final, Ireland had very much the better of the drawn league game between the sides in July 2012. But it should be acknowledged that Afghanistan suffers from traumatic circumstances at home; whereas Ireland, not so hampered, has even been able been able to launch a domestic three-day competition. 645