Some say the phrase "The luck of the Irish" refers to the good fortune enjoyed by the citizens of that country when they took up mining, with much success, in the United States. Others say it was coined in irony, to reflect on the potato famine and wars that affected the country so badly. After their last-ball win against Zimbabwe on St Patrick's Day, Ireland's cricketers will be inclined to believe the former.
They restricted their Full Member opposition to what was considered a below-par score on a ground hosting its first international match. In response, they seemed to be having their own St Patrick's Day parade, coasting towards a win at 61 without loss after the Powerplay and 99 for 1 at the halfway stage. Then, they started to stutter.
Tinashe Panyangara, who went for 18 runs in his first over, changed ends and delivered a double-wicket maiden in the 15th over to drag Zimbabwe back into the game. Brendan Taylor made the bowler change ends again for his third over and Kevin O'Brien took 15 runs off Panyangara before falling on his sword in the 18th over. Still, Ireland needed only seven runs off the last two overs. Zimbabwe needed a miracle.
Tendai Chatara had bowled intelligently to that point with 17 off three overs and a wicket. He understood the conditions called for a change of pace. With a slew of slower balls, he gave away only three in the penultimate over. Ireland needed four off the last six.
Panyangara stepped up for the final over. The hallmark of his game is death-bowling and he showed it with his third ball - a perfect yorker to dismiss Ed Joyce. The next ball was almost as good but Max Sorensen dug it out and set off for a risky single only to be run out by Sean Williams at mid-off.
Ireland needed two runs. Zimbabwe still needed a miracle. The penultimate ball was a low full toss which Stuart Thompson outside-edged to third man. Ireland were one run away from a win, even as Zimbabwe thought they could pull off a miracle.
Panyangara fired a yorker-length ball, Alex Cusack missed but ran anyway. Taylor was not standing up to the stumps but threw under-arm from his position. Had he hit, Cusack would have been run-out and the match would have gone into a Super Over. He missed and Ireland scrambled the bye for a win.
After the match, a gutted Taylor had no explanation for his decision to not stand closer. "I backed myself to hit the stumps," he said. "But anyway, these things happen. I think we were still 20 runs short."
It turned out Zimbabwe were only two runs short, but Taylor held the batsmen responsible for not capitalising on starts. He was the only one who did, top-scoring with 59. The rest were frustrated by Ireland's spinners and the sluggish surface.
Between them, Paul Stirling, George Dockrell and Andy McBrine gave away only 68 runs in 12 overs and took four wickets. They pegged Zimbabwe back from the outset - Stirling opened the innings with an over that cost just four and then McBrine and Dockrell punctured the Zimbabwe innings. Hamilton Masakadza was caught at short midwicket trying to clear McBrine. Taylor was caught at the extra-cover boundary off Dockrell, looking to break the shackles after Sibanda lost his wicket to the pull shot.
After the Powerplay, Zimbabwe were well positioned at 56 for 1 and looked set for a total of 180-plus. But, at 131 for 5 after 17 overs, even 155 looked out of reach. Elton Chigumbura showed off his finishing skills, scoring 16 off the last over, including two sixes, but Taylor thought even 163 was not enough.
The way Ireland openers William Porterfield and Stirling started seemed to rubber-stamp the Zimbabwe captain's opinion. They raced to 61 without loss in the Powerplay, rendering Zimbabwe's early attack ineffective. Even after they were both dismissed, Ireland marched on.
It was only when Panyangara was brought back from a different end that Zimbabwe came alive again, inspired by his double strike. Prosper Utseya kept O'Brien and Joyce quiet, so did Sean Williams, and Zimbabwe built pressure.
O'Brien was not going to be stopped for too long, though, and when he tore into Panyangara, it seemed Zimbabwe's comeback was short-lived. The bowler, however, made up for his mistakes and delivered a final over that could have seen Zimbabwe win. But it was St Patrick's Day and the Irish have that luck.
Netherlands 152 for 4 (Myburgh 55, Tom Cooper 34*) beat UAE 151 (Khurram 31, Shaiman 32, Malik 3-16) by six wickets
Peter Borren will not have any reason to be "pi**ed off" with his batsmen tonight, the way he had been after they had blown potentially winning positions in both their warm-up matches. When it came to the game that counted, Netherlands, led by their openers, made short work of a potentially tricky target of 152.
Stephan Myburgh and Michael Swart took on from where Paul Stirling and William Porterfield had left off earlier in the evening. Ireland had been 61 for 0 after the first six overs of their chase. The Netherlands openers did even better, taking 67 off the fielding restrictions.
By the time Swart top-edged a pull to midwicket, Netherlands needed 83 from 80 balls. Myburgh kept going on, and it needed a suicidal dash for a single to send him back at the midway stage for 55 off 36, with 59 needed from the remaining ten overs.
Myburgh had set about UAE right from the opening over, as Manjula Guruge went for 34 in his first three overs. UAE's seamers did not have the pace to trouble the batsmen but they kept pitching it back of a good length and Myburgh, especially, kept pulling them for fours and sixes. He went so hard at the ball that even a couple of top-edges flew over the wicketkeeper for boundaries.
Amid Myburgh's assault on Guruge, Swart went after left-arm spinner Shadeep Silva, taking 16 in his second over after a tight first one. A short ball was muscled over midwicket and the fuller one next up was sent soaring over the straight boundary.
Although Netherlands had imploded from similar positions in the practice games, there was no looking back after such a start this time. Helped along by a few chances put down by UAE.
Netherlands cruised home in the 19th over. Wesley Barresi and the late, controversial replacement Tom Cooper ensured the openers' efforts weren't frittered away and also avoided the kind of late stress Ireland had managed to build for themselves (although Borren did fall cheaply in the 18th over, needlessly ramping a shortish ball to third man).
The game was effectively taken away from UAE by the Netherlands openers, but they would think they should have got more than the 151 they did after choosing to bat. Despite the early loss of their openers, UAE were 79 for 2 in the 11th over, captain Khurram Khan and keeper Swapnil Patil having added 67 off 52.
Both were bowled in the 11th over by Tom Cooper trying late cuts with no room to play the stroke. Rohan Mustafa and Shaiman Anwar put together another partnership, worth 47, but UAE surrendered the advantage again, and there was no comeback from the lower order.
Mustafa was run-out by a direct hit from Borren and Anwar was yorked by Timm van der Gugten. UAE managed only 20 in the last four overs. They had still achieved what they were looking for at the start, but the Netherlands batting was to come good on the night when it mattered.
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