Cricket World Cup- Ireland Vs. South Africa. See Mod Warning in post 18

John.Icy

On Tuesday 15th, Ireland faces a tough task in the form of South Africa in their second last group match. Theoretically Ireland can still qualify, but if we lose this, unfortunately, despite heroic performances by Ireland, our World Cup journey will come to a disappointing, but successful end.

So let the build-up begin.

Does anyone think we can do it?

I do, it will be tough, but I really do believe Ireland have a solid chance at causing an upset. Why? Well we have 6/7 batters who are well capable of getting a good knock against the world’s top teams. Ed Joyce just had a great innings, so I'm sure he'll want to move onwards and upwards. We have Paul Stirling who is probably going to fight tooth and nail for a good knock, after two very early exits in the last two matches. Kevin O'Brien will want to make sure no-one thinks his memorable century was a one off, and he can play that well again. To add to this, we have other great batters that can perform very well. We have a solid bowling line-up, with some great talent in Dockrell and Johnston (please god he makes it) and others. We are well capable of restricting big teams to figures that we’d have a good chance of chasing.

We have to cut out some loose bowling, some costly mistakes in fielding, and we have a fighting chance.

Now, what are your thoughts?

decies

Nah

Eire celticbhoy

the lads will put in a performance they have given every game a crack so hopefully they might pull it out of the bag when its needed

D3PO

John.Icy wrote: »

Ed Joyce just had a great innings,

hang on a minute. Only the other day you were blaming Joyce for Ireland not kicking on against the WEest Indies now your saying it was a great innings.

Talk about a Finna Fail style position flop. :rolleyes:

Can we win ? Yes its 11 v 11 anything can happen. It will take one hell of a performance though.

Arguably SA have the best bowler and batsman in ODI cricket right now with Amla & Steyn. It will take an amazing performance with perhaps a bit of luck to pull off a win but one things for sure the lads will give it a fair rattle.

one thing is for certain we need the openers to put on a decent partnership we have been 2 down for 30 or 40 odd every game this world cup. You cant keep expecting to dig oyourself out of that sort of hole. Hopefully Striling can fire like we all know hes capable of.

Cremated

Some news on South Africa, '' AB de Villiers: muscle sprain of the left thigh. Not serious but doubtful starter vs Ireland. ''...

riffmongous

Cremated wrote: »

Some news on South Africa, '' AB de Villiers: muscle sprain of the left thigh. Not serious but doubtful starter vs Ireland. ''...

This is great news. Now if only they would rest Steyn, Morkel, Botha, Amla..............

randomer

riffmongous wrote: »

This is great news. Now if only they would rest Steyn, Morkel, Botha, Amla..............

Not too concerned about Botha. He did play for Malahide a few years ago in the Leinster Senior League.

riffmongous

randomer wrote: »

Not too concerned about Botha. He did play for Malahide a few years ago in the Leinster Senior League.

That was before he was banned though wasn't it? I think he's come on a lot since then.
Well its really just that whenever I see a half decent spinner coming on to bowl to an Irish batsman I break out in a cold sweat

Cremated

'' Injury concerns will definitely keep Imran Tahir out of the match ''...

dfx-

Smith is due a big score...

[OP, the Cloud skin makes your post unreadable ]

John.Icy

D3PO wrote: »

hang on a minute. Only the other day you were blaming Joyce for Ireland not kicking on against the WEest Indies now your saying it was a great innings.

After reading back over my posts, I was harsh, but I wasn't meant to come across like that. I think he had a great knock, but I just got frustrated when the run rate was going higher and higher, but both Joyce and Wilson kept hitting a couple of singles, with only some great overs in between, but I can't blame them really, West Indies bowled superbly.

SSK

dfx- wrote: »

Smith is due a big score...

[OP, the Cloud skin makes your post unreadable ]

Hopefully that Irish young one that he's romancing at the moment will distract him sufficiently that he gets out first ball.

And yes I did get that news from the Evening Herald

Cremated

So when can we expect him to complete his four year stay in Ireland so he can come play for Ireland ...

spiralism

depends on which SA side shows up... if we get the one that played india we can forget it but if we get the performance they put in against england i'd say we have a fine chance

Giggsy11

Against England it was a bowling track, so both teams made such a low score. I dont think SA will slip up. AB De will score a big one and Steyn and Morkel will be too hard to handle. Two of the best bowlers in the world cricket today.

TheRevolution

streams?

TrueDub

TheRevolution wrote: »

streams?

No stream requests or posts on this thread please - there is a sticky for that purpose at the top of this forum.

Fox1978

Yeah, looking forward to this one. I think the boys will be disappointed they've only got one victory at this stage (albeit vs the old enemy!) and will be anxious to put in a strong performance. Hope Trent is back, we miss his bowling. We were doing well vs India until he got injured. I want to see more chicken dance!

PDN

Would love Ireland to pull a surprise here, but really can't see it happening at all.

Mushy

PDN wrote: »

Would love Ireland to pull a surprise here, but really can't see it happening at all.

Best thing about this WC for me is that there is some higher expectation that Ireland can beat these teams.

Mushy

Should have one or two more wickets out by now.

TheDrog

Two poor drops so far and one great catch, little erratic lads

Mushy

And a great direct hit to make it 52-2.

positron

They are off to a good start with RR around 6 despite being 2 down. But getting them 2 down is an achievement in itself, but hard to see Ireland winning this at the end of the day - but I hope I am wrong and I hope Ireland wins. Best of luck everyone!

Mushy

Saying game may not end today due to rain. Only raining lightly now.

Mushy

Van Wyk bowled by Dockrell. Having a great overs bowling. 84-3

Peadar06

OUT! Clattered! Terrific delivery, full in length on off, probably an arm ball skidding on with the angle after pitching, Morne attempts to cut it but misses and the ball goes on to disturb the wooden framework. The drop chances didn't cost much but a fluent 42 from Morne van Wyk nonetheless!

Neil3030

4 from the last 2 overs with 1 wicket in the power play.

Mothman

Stirling and Dockrell (who I felt were under used against WI) are pulling it back
6 overs for 16 runs between them so far

Fox1978

Yeah happy to see run rate drop below 5 per over

loosecannon

For anyone stuck in Work without TV you can listen to it Live audio ball by ball cricket commentary with a slightly entertaining approach to the game!

Interview with someone from Cricket Ireland as well during the break in Innings - http://testmatchsofa.com/

Come on Ireland!! 1 or 2 more wickets here and we're right in this game...

Peadar06

OUT! Another run out! Big fish departs to a huge cheer from crowd! Drops it short on middle and off, Duminy goes back and punches it towards covers and calls for a run. Kallis responds to the call, scampers to the striker's end. In the meantime, Porterfield dives and throws it in one go to the keeper who dislodges the bails in a flash. Third Umpire is consulted and "Out" flashes on the screen as Kallis was just short. Inspirational stuff in the field! Second time in a row the right-hander has been dismissed in the similar fashion!

Marshy

Brilliant run out of Kallis.

Exploit this frail middle order lads!

positron

That's a huge wicket alright. Well done. If they continue to field that good, they should get SA packed for under 250, which would give them a decent fighting chance today.

Winning today is absolutely critical for staying in the world cup. No win today = out of the world cup for Ireland.

loosecannon

Truly Fantastic piece of work from our captain - what a brilliant brilliant fielder...

Keep going lads! Come on the Irish

actwithoutwords

Come on!

Mushy

117-5

positron

They haven't done enough to take it easy though - it's SA playing and they are very good. They could still get to 300 from here. Need couple of more wickets and then we are half way there.

PS: and as I was typing....

Peadar06

OUT! Caught in the slips! Another one bites the dust! Tosses it up outside off and shaping back gently into the batsman, Faf leans forward, pushes inside the line and gets a thick outside edge to Johnston at first slip. South Africa in trouble!

Pudsy33

Fair play to the lads, looking good.

keano_afc

Thats a big wicket, great stuff.

Marshy

That really was top class cricket. Lovely delivery, superb catch and great captaincy to have slip in first instance.

basillarkin

117 for 5, lovely bowling from Stirling and good catch from Johnson, have to restrict them to 250.

Speak Now

Whats the pitch like lads? Bowler friendly?

positron

basillarkin wrote: »

117 for 5, lovely bowling from Stirling and good catch from Johnson, have to restrict them to 250.

May be 200? If it's raining there, that's going to make scoring even harder later. Also if they had to use the D/L method, I wonder how all this will add up later.

Fingers crossed weather plays in favour, not against us.

TheRevolution

looking good so far

Speak Now

Run rate down to 4.4 from 6 earlier on.

Speak Now

First boundary in 14 overs :eek:

positron

Two more wickets to break their collective backs.

actwithoutwords

It's great to see us in amongst it and competing again. It should be borne in mind we got tonked several times in 2007 in amongst the heroic performances. If we can sneak Duminy out, then we've a great chance of restricting them to a decent score. I do fear our batsmen against Steyn and Morkel though.

d'Oracle

Duminy and Ingram look to be playing a smart innings here.
Sharp running and punishing when something is offered.