Tri-Nation T20I Series featuring Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland (2018)

[MenInG]

Ireland came out with a renewed sense of vigour in today’s T20 international against Netherlands, but failed to hold the Dutch in a tight run chase at the VOB Ground in Rotterdam.

Gary Wilson, Ireland’s T20I team captain, called correctly at the toss for the second consecutive day, but this time elected to bat first under blue skies.

Openers Paul Stirling and James Shannon gave Ireland a perfect start, with a half-century opening stand in just under five overs. Shannon, playing in his fourth T20I, easily surpassed his previous highest T20I score of 5 runs and looked more dangerous than his formidable partner Stirling.

However, both openers went soon after. With the score on 58, Stirling was beaten by Dutch medium-paceman Fred Klaassen and was dismissed by 27 (16 balls; 5 x fours). Shannon (31 runs off 21 balls; 4 x fours, 1 x six) went in the following over after he leaned back on a cut shot but missed the ball which crashed into his stumps.

Yesterday’s batting hero Simi Singh had a brief but entertaining innings (13 runs off 10 balls; 2 x fours) and William Porterfield compiled a run-a-ball 20 (1 x four), but at 105-4 in the 14th over, Ireland needed someone to stick in to the end and ensure a competitive total was posted. That role fell to captain Gary Wilson who hit 45* (42 balls; 2 x fours, 1 x six) and saw Ireland through to a total of 158-6 off 20 overs.

While most of Netherlands’ bowlers performed well, the experienced 33-year old Roelof van der Merwe stood out taking 2-24 from his four overs, claiming the important wickets of Singh and the ever-threatening Kevin O’Brien (13 off 6 balls 1 x four, 1 x six).

With a target of 159 ahead of them, the Dutch openers Tobias Visee and Max O’Dowd got off to a positive start. 37 runs were scored in less than four overs, before Visee was beaten by George Dockrell and was dismissed for 25 (15 balls; 5 x fours). O’Dowd took the reins and hit his highest T20I score of 39 (24 balls; 5 x fours, 1 x six) before edging a Stuart Thompson delivery to keeper Stuart Poynter.

With the foundations set by the early, experienced heads in the middle order saw the Netherlands run chase to a successful conclusion. van der Merwe followed his good bowling display with an aggressive innings of 37 (26 balls; 3 x fours, 1 x six) and captain Pieter Seelaar followed up his score of 37 yesterday to compile a tidy 22* off 19 balls today, seeing his side through to reach the target with six balls to spare.

For Ireland, the spinners looked the more likely to take wickets and contain the runs, with Dockrell (2-30 off 4 overs) and Singh (1-23 off 4 overs) bowling well but in the end it wasn’t enough.

 

[MenInG]

3rd Match, Netherlands Tri-Nation T20I Series at Deventer, Jun 16 2018 - Ireland v Scotland today

 

[finalfantasy7]

Should have replaced Netherlands with Afghanistan. 3 evenish teams

 

[Kroll]

Three of Ireland’s batsmen hit rapid-fire half-centuries in a 46-run win over Scotland in a T20 International today in the Netherlands – only the third time in T20 International cricket history that three batsmen had passed 50 in the same innings.

Ireland’s T20I Captain Gary Wilson called correctly at the toss for the third consecutive time as captain, and had no hesitation about electing to bat first.

Opener Paul Stirling got off to a flyer, hitting 51 runs in 29 balls (10 x fours) and setting the tone for the innings. During his innings, Stirling passed William Porterfield as Ireland’s highest run-scorer in T20I cricket.

With the dismissal of Stirling’s opening partner James Shannon (5 runs off 3 balls; 1 x four), Andrew Balbirnie strode to the wicket with purpose. Not having played in the last two T20Is against Netherlands, he set about establishing his credentials in this form of the game, posting a big-hitting 74 runs from 40 balls (11 x fours, 1 x six).

Balbirnie first shared a 51-run stand with Stirling, then was involved in a 91-run partnership with his skipper Wilson. He brought up the first T20I half-century of his career off 26 balls, and continued to dominate the Scottish attack until on 74 he flashed at a ball outside off-stump and was caught at gully.

With the fall of Balbirnie, Wilson seemed determined to finish off the innings in style, upping his scoring tempo in the final overs, ending on 58 runs off 38 balls (4 x fours, 2 x sixes). He fell on the third-last ball of the innings chasing quick runs. Wilson’s dismissal saw him one-run shy of reaching 1,000 career runs in the T20I format, and when he achieves this he will be only the third Irish batsman to do so.

The Ireland total of 205-5 off their 20 overs was its fourth highest T20I team total ever, and the second time they had taken more than 200 off Scottish bowlers.

In response, Scotland’s opening pair of Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey set about scoring quickly in the early overs, with the knowledge that they needed to maintain more than 10 runs per over throughout to win.

Coetzer, the Scottish captain, hit six boundaries in his innings of 33 runs (22 balls) before falling to the wily bowling of left-arm spinner George Dockrell.

Dockrell at 25-years of age was already Ireland’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is, and showed his class today with a tight bowling display, but most importantly claiming the two important wickets of Coetzer and then Munsey (41 runs off 24 balls; 4 x fours, 2 x sixes). Dockrell finished with 2-15 from his three overs bowled, and to complete his good day in the field today also took a good low-down outfield catch to dismiss Richie Berrington (29 runs off 26 balls; 1 x four, 1 x six).

With the fall of fourth-wicket of Calum MacLeod with Scotland on 100, Scotland’s chase seemed doomed and indeed only 59 more runs were made from the final eight overs of the innings, with Ireland running out victors by 46 runs.

 

[Kroll]

Ireland and Scotland played out a thrilling high-scoring tie in the second T20 International between the sides in two days – the first tied match in T20 Internationals since 2015.

Earlier in the day Scotland’s captain Kyle Coetzer won the toss and elected to bat first under grey, overcast skies.

For the second match in a row, Scottish openers Coetzer and George Munsey got the innings off to a flyer, bringing up a half-century partnership in four overs, and going on to register a 93-run opening stand off just 49 balls. 25-year old Munsey was the early aggressor, taking to each of Ireland’s bowlers with some lusty hitting. His innings came to an end with a miscued shot to Peter Chase in the gully, but his 46 runs off 25 balls (5 x fours, 2 x sixes) had set a good platform for his side.

However, counter to this early script, Ireland’s bowlers fought back by bowling a tighter and fuller line, with Captain Gary Wilson rotating through the bowlers so the Scottish batsmen were never settled. The tight bowling resulted in just 26 runs coming from overs 10 to 15 of the Scottish innings for the loss of Coetzer for 54 runs (41 balls; 7 x fours).

Calum MacLeod, centurion batting hero for the Scots against the English last week, finished on 46* (39 balls; 5 x fours) and Matthew Cross crashed three vital boundaries in the last two overs to add important runs, but Ireland’s bowlers will be pleased they pulled back an innings that, at the halfway mark, looked like a 200-plus total.

The Scotland total of 185-4 off 20 overs was their second highest T20I team total ever, just four runs shy of their highest total against Hong Kong in 2017.

In response, the Irish batsmen set about a measured innings, but knowing that they realistically needed to find a boundary every over to keep the target in check.

Paul Stirling obliged by hitting hard and long on numerous occasions, and registering his second half-century on the trot. His 68-run partnership with Simi Singh (26 runs off 23 balls; 3 x fours) positioned Ireland well in the run chase and gave the batters to come a reachable target, if they were required.

Stirling was eventually out for 81, cutting a high ball outside off stump which was caught at short third man. His score was not only his personal highest T20I score, but was also the new record highest individual score for an Irish batsman (passing his own record of 79 runs).

Wilson (20 runs from 14 balls) and the experienced Kevin O’Brien (28 runs from 17 balls) put on a 39-run stand in 24 balls, but neither could see it out – Wilson gloving a bouncer to the keeper and O’Brien falling to a sensational juggling outfield catch by Dylan Budge.

The game fluctuated in momentum in the final overs until the match came down to the last ball. The equation was clear, Ireland needed three runs to win with Stuart Thompson on strike. Scottish bowler Safyaan Sharif dealt with the pressure well by pitching it up in the blockhole with Thompson only able to drive along the ground to long on for two runs. The match was a tie.

 

[Square Drive]

Why no super over?

 

[UN talkz]

Why no super over?

Brain Fade

 

[hadi123]

Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has been roped in by Cricket Scotland as a consultant for a short eight-day period. Streak will join Scotland during the ongoing Twenty20 International series in the Netherlands also involving Ireland.

Streak, who picked up 216 wickets from 65 Tests and 239 wickets from 189 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe, comes off a stint with Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League IPL 2018, where he was involved with the franchise as the bowling coach, a role he had performed previously with the Bangladesh national team as well.

Scotland, who are ranked 12th in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings, are looking to use the tri-nation series as the first step of their preparation to qualify for the ICC World T20 2020, to be held in Australia.

“They (Scotland) have really improved since the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australasia and have now got a consistently competitive team,” Streak said. “Their historical first ODI win over England last Sunday is testament to their progress as a country in world cricket.”

Streak revealed that Scotland head coach Grant Bradburn had first approached him and asked for him to be associated with the team and that he was happy to oblige.

“Grant Bradburn, the head coach of Scotland, asked me if I could share my T20 experience with them as a consultant to help the team as well as the coaches to evolve in that format and I was happy to share my knowledge and experience with them,” Streak said.

 

[hadi123]

Scotland score 221/3 from their 20 overs against Netherlands!