Ireland march on after UAE scare

After the euphoria of Ireland’s successful overhaul of 305 against the West Indies, some blithely assumed that the UAE would meekly subside.

But that was reckoning without the huge improvements in cricket in the UAE in recent years. Just as Ireland have closed the gap on the weakest Test-playing nations, so other leading associates have narrowed the gap with Ireland.

That much should have been apparent far before this match. Scotland have become more competitive against Ireland, losing 2-1 across the Irish Sea in September and then thumping Ireland by 179 runs in a World Cup warm-up game in Sydney two weeks ago. Afghanistan, who came second to Ireland in the most recent associate level competitions in all three formats of the game, bested Ireland by 71 runs in the UAE last month, after a three-wicket defeat in the previous game between the sides.

Less, though, was expected of the UAE. The Emirati had not defeated Ireland since the 2001 ICC Trophy, an ignominious time for Irish cricket encapsulated by the enlisting of the journalist James Fitzgerald as a substitute fielder for two matches. He deserved his place in the Irish team photo, but Ireland also deserved their ignominious eight-placed finish in the tournament, below Denmark and the US.

Irish cricket has come on a long way since. The sense that it has outgrown the associate world is hardly unfounded; it is certainly deeply inequitable that Ireland receive one-eighth the funding from the ICC that Bangladesh and Zimbabwe do and, even more egregiously, just nine ODIs against Test-playing nations between the 2011 and 2015 World Cups.

But, unobtrusively, the rest of the associate world has been catching up with Ireland. Notionally, the UAE remain a team of amateurs. But rather like the Pakistan side of the 1970s and 1980s, the majority of the UAE side is employed by corporations who allow them to play cricket as a virtually full-time pursuit. Many of the UAE players are amateurs in name only.

Still, no one was quite envisaging a UAE victory over Ireland. The problem for Ireland was not complacency but simply that, shrewdly coached by the former Pakistan Test player – and 1992 World Cup winner – Aaqib Javed, UAE have developed into a serious international cricket team.

They are unrecognisable from the side that last competed in a World Cup in 1996, when their most notable contribution was, as Peter Miller relates in the new book Second XI: Cricket in its Outposts, the emergence of Sultan Zarawani to face Allan Donald with only a sunhat to protect his head.

For all that, Ireland will rightly feel disappointed with aspects of their performance in their nerve-shredding two-wicket victory. Having conceded 167 runs from their final 15 overs against the West Indies, Ireland conceded 147 against the UAE, even though Ireland had reduced them to 131-6. UAE’s assault, underpinned by Shaiman Anwar’s effervescent hundred, once again exposed the lack of variety in Ireland’s attack. With the addition of Alex Cusack, who conceded 31 off his final three overs after yielding just 23 runs in his first seven, in place of Andy McBrine, Ireland fielded four right-arm medium pacers bowling over the wicket.

This is partly due to England’s poaching of Boyd Rankin, who retired from Ireland duty on the urging of former Warwickshire director of cricket Ashley Giles, who was also an England selector. Rankin declined to return for Ireland at the World Cup, believing he might yet have a future with England. Even in his absence, both Craig Young and Peter Chase would have provided the attack with genuine variety.

As disappointing as the culmination of Ireland’s bowling display was, few anticipated that a target of 26 fewer than that Ireland overhauled against the West Indies would pose such difficulty. The UAE bowled with zest and have a well-balanced attack. But they were abetted by some unfortunate shots: Paul Stirling’s airy waft in the second over of Ireland’s innings threatened to set the tone. Even Ed Joyce, so magnificent against the West Indies, was not immune. He could have been out three times – to a ball that hit his offstump but did not dislodge the bails; to a sharp return catch offered to the bowler; and run-out – before he nicked behind for 37.

At 97-4 in the 26th over, Ireland were left to contemplate defeat by a team they have dominated for 14 years, undoing all their sterling work against the West Indies. Thanks to terrific innings from Gary Wilson and Kevin O’Brien, that fate was just averted. With two wins from two games, Ireland are perhaps only a victory over Zimbabwe away from the quarter-finals. The good news is that, unlike in 2011, Ireland are not the only associate to have impressed; and this increases the chances of reversing the ICC’s myopic decision to contract the 2019 World Cup.

“We Associates have not helped ourselves over the years by failing to perform on the world stage collectively,” Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said this month. “We struggle for opportunities to get practice between World Cups, but until we perform as a group of nations and not just a one-off upset, our argument is that much weaker.”

The bad news is that, unless the bowlers produce a significantly improved performance, things could get very ugly against AB de Villiers and South Africa at Canberra next week.

We got out of jail, says O’Brien

Batsman Niall O’Brien admitted Ireland “got out of jail” in their World Cup victory over the United Arab Emirates.

Ireland lie third in Pool B following the anxious last-over win in Brisbane and are well placed to progress to the last eight.

William Porterfield’s side have four points from two matches and next face South Africa on March 3.

“If we had lost, it would have been a real kick in the teeth. We can play a lot better and we will,” said O’Brien.

Ireland will also face Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan as they target the top-four spot in Pool B that will ensure qualification to the World Cup quarter-finals.

“It was not our most accomplished performance — we were a bit scrappy all round,” O’Brien, 33, said of the two-wicket win over the UAE part-timers.

“UAE batted really well and we got out of jail. We didn’t play well but it is two points. In the end fitness and a bit of professionalism from ourselves showed.”

Ireland captain Porterfield added: “The lads showed their experience, especially from about 25-30 overs out to see us home. There were a couple of periods in the game where it got a bit frantic and we lost a couple of wickets quickly at two different stages.

“The lads held their nerve and did a good job in the end.”