South Africa end Irish dream of playing ICC World Cup quarterfinals
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751’s past record in the tournament had led some to believe that they might pull off a major upset by defeating the Proteas. Nevertheless, it was
Graeme Smith’s eleven that came out victorious with a 131-run triumph over the Irish. The match was played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
Chasing a total of 272 runs was always going to be a tough ask for the inexperienced Irishmen. The bowling attack of the South Africans had enough talent to keep the Irish batsmen under control. From South Africa http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-Morkel-c77722 and Robin Peterson were the
most successful bowlers, they both shared three wickets each. The early onslaught by Morkel and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn showed that the South Africans wanted to end the game as soon as they could.
The Irish batsmen should have known that to successfully chase a crunching total they needed to score quick runs without losing too many wickets. However, things never clicked for the Europeans and they mostly relied on openers skipper William Porterfield
(6) and Paul Stirling (10), both of who went early, failing to give a solid start to the team.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Johan-Botha-c67173 after contributing just 10 runs. The O’Brien brothers were also neutralised by the South African bowling brigade and were not permitting to bat on their terms. Niall O’Brien went for 10 while
the hard hitting flamboyant younger brother Kevin O’Brien went after making 19 runs. The highest scorer from Ireland was Gary http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wilson-c98046 who tried to confront the South African bowling onslaught. However, he needed boundaries and batsmen on the other end to support
him to succeed in reaching the target, but it was asking too much from the Irishman. He fell after scoring 31 runs.
Left-arm bowler Peterson took the wickets of Gary Wilson, Alex Cusack (7) and Kevin O'Brien. Morkel, on the other hand, grabbed the wickets of Trent Johnston (12), John Mooney (14) and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/George-Dockrell-c59135 (16).
Earlier, the Irish displayed a superbly disciplined bowling attack which made the South African openers nervous. The Irish succeeded in getting rid of Proteas skipper Graeme Smith in the 10th over after he had scored just seven runs. Jacques Kallis and Faf
du Plessis shockingly failed to post huge totals against Ireland. They both went for 19 and 11 runs.
The fall of Kallis’ wicket was definitely a great relief for the Irish. Nonetheless, they failed to capitalise on the window of opportunity that had been opened for them. At one stage, it almost looked as if the Irish would limit the Proteas to a small total,
but wicketkeeper-batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jean-Paul-Duminy-c66758 took the game away from the Irish. They both scored 42 and 99 runs.
After these two, it was the youngster Colin Ingram, who steered the South African batting barrage by making 46 runs. He was bowled by Johnston. Johan Botha added 21 runs to the total. From Ireland, George Henry Dockrell was the pick of the bowlers. He took
one wicket for 37 runs in his 10 overs.
South Africa managed to recover from an early hiccup and posted a total that was always going to be difficult for Ireland to chase. The Irish could only make 141 runs before their entire team was bowled out.
This was perhaps the best World Cup the minnows have had and if they keep playing and improving the way they are, there is every chance that they will soon stand among the top teams in the one-day format of the game.
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