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Match facts

August 25, Dublin
Start time 1015 (0915 GMT)Paul Stirling will be hoping to celebrate his third international hundred of the summer at Clontarf•Associated Press

Big Picture

It’s been almost six months since Ireland’s historic win over England on a balmy evening in Bangalore, and though the Irish won many hearts with their plucky performance at the World Cup, they will be impatient to further their cause in a rare outing against top-drawer opposition.Or, not quite top-draw, as England are using the match as a chance to give their seniors a well-earned rest and offer the next generation an audition ahead of the ODIs against India. That decision has taken some of the gloss off the encounter – as well as ruffling a few feathers across the Irish Sea – but although the Clontarf ground in Dublin is a world away from the Chinnaswamy, Ireland won’t need much geeing up to play whatever England XI turns up.In the event, it will be none other than the Dublin-born Eoin Morgan who returns to his home town to captain, for the first time, an England outfit that includes several promising youngsters. Leicestershire’s James Taylor, Yorkshire’s Jonathan Bairstow and Durham’s Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick all recently featured in the England Lions’ ODI series win over Sri Lanka A. The likes of Steven Finn, Ravi Bopara, Graham Onions, Craig Kieswetter and Samit Patel will also all recognise this game as an opportunity to move from the fringes to the centre of the England set-up.While England’s focus has been on their ascent to the top of the Test world, Ireland have enjoyed mixed results this summer, slipping up badly against Pakistan in May, when they were shot out for 97 in the first ODI at Stormont. Paul Stirling’s run-a-ball century helped them give a better account of themselves in a five-wicket loss at the same venue two days later, and he was at it again in July against Scotland with a rollicking 113 that included six sixes in Edinburgh.That innings helped Stirling leapfrog Netherland’s Ryan ten Doeschate as the top-ranked Associate batsman (Stirling rose to a career-best 16th in the world), and his efforts will once again be vital to the Irish cause. With Will Porterfield, Ed Joyce and the O’Briens in their ranks, however, batting is Ireland’s strong suit and of far more concern for them will be a bowling line-up that relies heavily on the success of the senior seamers.The fact that a couple of young Irish players – Stirling, George Dockrell and Boyd Rankin, who made his England Lions debut against Sri Lanka A – are beginning to show up on England’s radar adds an extra dimension to this one-off game, as does the fact that both teams are captained by Irishmen.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Ireland LLLWL
England WWLLW

In the spotlight

The 20-year-old Paul Stirling is the most promising young batsman in Ireland, and their top-ranked player in ODIs. He’s also been in eye-catching form this summer, slamming hundreds against Pakistan and Scotland, and comes into this game fresh from an 81-ball 109 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield. If he fires, the rest of the line-up can bat around him and almost no total will be safe.James Taylor has been earmarked for future honours from a young age, and though he’s still only 21 there’s a real buzz starting to form around the diminutive middle-order batsman. And rightly so. Four hundreds, two of them for the Lions against Sri Lanka A, and three fifties in his last 10 innings have brought him an England debut and should he give a good account of himself in this game a regular spot in the national side is the next step.

Team news

There’s been an encouraging continuity to Ireland’s selections in recent years and Andre Botha, who retired following the World Cup, is the only player from the 15-man group that travelled to the subcontinent missing from the squad for this match. There is, however, an injury concern over veteran seamer Trent Johnston. Given the paucity of quality seamers in the Ireland group, if Johnston is anywhere close to fit, he’ll get a game.Ireland: (possible) 1 Will Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O’Brien (wk), 5 Gary Wilson, 6 Kevin O’Brien, 7 Alex Cusack, 8 Trent Johnston, 9 John Mooney, 10 George Dockrell, 11 Boyd Rankin.The experimental nature of England’s touring party makes it very hard to pick a starting XI, or decide who will slot in where, but Craig Kieswetter should get the gloves ahead of Jonny Bairstow, and is likely to have Jonathan Trott as his opening partner. The group contains several promising allrounders, giving Morgan options with both spin and seam and meaning that it could be Steven Finn who sits out.England: (possible) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Jonathan Trott, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 James Taylor, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Scott Borthwick, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Graham Onions.

Pitch and conditions

While the weather has been set fair in the lead-up to this game, but conditions should still encourage the seamers, especially with the new ball. Clontarf is a compact ground, however, and batsmen may find the short boundaries to their liking once set. There’s a chance of showers on the day, but there should almost certainly be enough play for a result.

Stats and trivia

• England and Ireland have met just four times in ODIs, Ireland’s three-wicket triumph in Bangalore their only win.
• Ireland did, however, come very close to overpowering England in Belfast in 2009, losing a rain-reduced match by 3 runs after Eoin Morgan – who had come onto the field as a substitute for Graeme Swann – pulled off an incredible piece of fielding on the long-on boundary to intercept a six from the penultimate ball of the chase.
• Jonathan Trott made his ODI debut in that game.
• Paul Stirling is Ireland’s third-highest runscorer in ODIs, and also has the leading batting average – 42.48 – for his team.

Quotes

“I’ll be tossing the coin against a mate, but also against England in a one-day international so it doesn’t matter who it is.”
“”I’m absolutely not nervous, I’m looking forward to it.”

Former West Indies fast bowler and noted commentator Michael Holding has backed the use of technology in umpiring decisions, though he believes ball-tracking should be done away with since it is inaccurate. During last week’s annual conference, the ICC – following the BCCI’s sustained opposition to ball-tracking – decided to do away with it as one of the compulsory technological aids for decision-making, while making the DRS mandatory in ODIs and Tests.”I have never been a fan of the projected path of the ball,” Holding said during a round-table discussion at the MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture. “What HawkEye has produced with regards to the actual path of ball, where the ball has landed and where it has gone on to hit whatever – the bat or the pad – I am 100% happy with that.”The projected path of the ball [though] is a calculation. Obviously it has a margin of error, [but] they won’t call it that since they don’t want to hear the word ‘error’. That’s why whenever it is hitting the stumps or projected to be hitting the stumps, they leave it to the umpire’s call. If you are leaving it to the umpire’s call, that means you are thinking whatever you are showing is not 100% correct … So everything except the projected path I am happy with.”While paring down the DRS, the ICC also rejected the visual aid provided by the pitch mat, again on the BCCI’s insistence, a move that Holding criticised. “That mat is placed there by an immovable camera,” he said. “[It shows] where the ball is being pitched, and that has been shown to be 100% correct, so I have no problems with that. I don’t see why India don’t want to use it.”Holding was critical of the BCCI’s inordinate power in running the world game, an issue that has been discussed widely following the manner in which decisions were made at the conference. “I don’t believe any country should be able to dictate to the world, whatever game it is,” he said. “Brazil dominated football for many World Cups. They could not go to FIFA and say ‘this is what we want in the next World Cup’. [But] They could never ever dictate the path of the sport.”As far as I am concerned, it is the organisation running the game that should dictate the path. I am seeing an individual board dictating certain things, which I cannot agree with.”Andrew Strauss and Kumar Sangakkara, who have captained in matches with the DRS in use, were supportive of the use of technology in decision-making, though they differed in their opinions over the implementation of DRS. Sangakkara wanted umpires to use technology at their discretion, without the players having to review decisions, while Strauss was happy with the existing system.”It adds to the spectacle of the game when the players can challenge decisions, the crowds like it, and it gives the captains decisions to make, some of them strategic as to when and against which players you might use your calls,” Sangakkara said. “At the same time, I am a great believer in leaving it to the three umpires; if they need assistance to make their decision, let them ask for that. And allow the three umpires to sort it out among themselves.”Strauss said the DRS was good for cricket since it helped in getting better decisions and did not undermine umpires. “I must admit I had problems with DRS when it was first mooted. I worried about players being involved in the decision-making process – it is very contrary to what the game of cricket is all about, which is that the umpires make the final decision,” Strauss said. “But having seen it work, and having seen umpires get used to the idea, I don’t think they feel so much undermined now.”A lot of the times the best umpires come out with their reputations enhanced by the DRS. I think everyone has got used to it, and we get more decisions right as a result of it, therefore it is for the betterment of the game of cricket.”

In a revealing insight into one of the most tumultuous periods in Indian cricket, Zaheer Khan has said the tenure of Greg Chappell as India coach was the most disappointing phase of his decade-long career. Zaheer said he was unable to perform during that time as he was constantly worrying about whether or not Chappell wanted him – along with several other senior players – in the team.”It was as if you’ve been framed. It was like ‘we don’t want you in the team. It’s not about performance, we don’t like your attitude, you’re stopping the growth of cricket in the Indian team’. I felt it personally because I was dropped straight after the Sri Lanka tour, even though I had not performed badly,” Zaheer said on show.”I was fortunate enough to go to South Africa to represent the Asia XI [in the Afro-Asia Cup]. I got about nine wickets and I was recalled for the next series. In that phase it was always a struggle. When you’re fighting within the team, when you have a war to fight in your own camp, it is always difficult to win.”Chappell took over as India coach in May 2005 but his tenure – characterised by his zeal to draft in young players – was plagued by serious differences between him and senior players, including Sachin Tendulkar, in the Indian team. He also had a public spat with the then captain, Sourav Ganguly, who was dropped and later recalled. At the end of his tenure, following India’s early exit from the 2007 World Cup, he decided not to seek an extension of his contract.In contrast, Gary Kirsten’s time with the Indian team was “amazing”, Zaheer said. “He has given everyone their space. He’s understood the Indian culture and how we do things. He’s taken that step of coming closer to us rather than dictating. He was our friend, not a coach.”Zaheer Khan: “When you’re fighting within the team, when you have a war to fight in your own camp, it is always difficult to win.”•AFP

Zaheer felt the only positive to come out of Chappell’s tenure was the inclusion of youngsters in the team. But sacrificing experienced players was not the only way to give opportunities to youth, Zaheer felt. “A youngster coming in is a good sign but not at the cost of a cricketer who is doing his bit.”The county stint with Worcestershire came at the right moment for him, said Zaheer, when he was not feeling confident about his game. The time he spent playing away from the Indian set-up meant he started to enjoy cricket again. He signed up with Worcestershire for the 2006 county season and finished as the highest wicket-taker in Division Two of the County Championship, taking 78 wickets at 29.07.”Worcester taught me the reason I’m playing this game. Sometimes when you play at the highest level, especially in India, the whole country is so passionate about the game, so whether you do well or do badly it affects you in many ways. So when I went to Worcester, it was just me playing cricket.”I was just enjoying cricket and not thinking about other pressures, about the pressure of performance. Everything was falling into place. I was taking wickets. Even though I was not in the Indian side, I was actually happy.”A rejuvenated Zaheer has led the Indian attack since his Worcestershire stint, playing a crucial role in India’s ascent to the top of the Test rankings. The icing has been the 2011 World Cup triumph, in which Zaheer was the tournament’s joint-highest wicket-taker with Shahid Afridi, with 21 wickets. In the World Cup final, he bowled three consecutive maidens at the start of the innings, a contrast to his nervous display against Australia in the final of the 2003 edition.Zaheer said he was young at that time, and got carried away with emotion. “I was only a couple of years into international cricket; the World cup journey itself was something special. That time my thing was to bowl quick. I wanted to be aggressive. It was a World Cup final; there were a lot of emotions. As soon as the national anthem finished, there was this rush of young blood. I wanted to do really well, wanted to just blast the Australians apart.”This World Cup I was aware of the fact that there will be a lot of emotions, I have to deal with it. I have to maintain my calm and focus on the process. I was telling myself just go there and bowl.”Zaheer has sharpened his skills over the years, also becoming a mentor to the younger bowlers in the side. “You cannot run through a side [in the subcontinent]. You need to be patient, you need to understand when to go for the kill.””Early in my career, I used to get really tired in the second innings of a Test. That’s where the fun is. I was not able to deal with that pre-Worcester.”You can’t waste all your energy in the first innings or when a partnership is happening. You need to work on your field placements and know in your mind that the moment you get a wicket, you can go for another one. If you can get two wickets quickly that’s going to change the complexion of the game.”

Western Australia have launched an off-season raid on the eastern states, having added Nathan Rimmington, Travis Birt and Mark Cameron to their squad for 2011-12. The move is not about youth – the three men are aged 28, 29 and 30 respectively – but filling specific gaps that the Warriors coach Mickey Arthur outlined last month in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.Arthur wanted a fast bowler to boost the attack and settled on Cameron, from New South Wales, along with Rimmington, from Queensland. Cameron played for Australia A last summer but injuries have limited him to 16 first-class appearances in nine seasons, and with the younger Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Starc competing for positions, he faced a challenge to hold his spot with the Blues.Rimmington has been a solid performer for the Bulls, but was viewed as more of a limited-overs specialist and had managed only nine first-class games in six seasons at Queensland. Arthur said the two men would add plenty to a Western Australia attack that had lost the experience of Ashley Noffke and Brett Dorey during the previous summer.”Nathan brings the ability to bowl at the death in one-day cricket, which is an area where we have been deficient,” Arthur said. “He offers a great deal of experience and is a tough character, someone who brings a great deal to the squad.”Mark bowls with incredible pace, and we have lacked that quality in recent years. He is an outstanding strike bowler and a genuine match winner when he is on the field. It is a fact that Mark has battled injuries in recent seasons, but we will manage his program carefully to ensure we get maximum impact from him when he takes the field next summer.”Arthur also spoke last month of searching for a wicketkeeper-batsman, and while Birt is far from a full-time gloveman, he has stepped into the role at times for Tasmania in the past few seasons. He is another man whose first-class chances have been limited recently – he played five Sheffield Shield games last season – but he has also played three Twenty20s for Australia.”In Travis we have filled a position available for an experienced batsman,” Arthur said. “He is an exceptional one-day player and also has a good track record in first-class cricket. He will add depth to our batting and create healthy competition for spots in the top six.”Birt and Rimmington have each signed on for two years, while the older Cameron has settled for a one-year deal. Meanwhile, Tasmania have secured the fast bowler Jackson Bird, 24, a Sydney grade cricketer who couldn’t force his way into the New South Wales side. All six states are finalising their playing lists for 2011-12, with full squads expected to be released in the next few weeks.

The PCB has requested national coach Waqar Younis to return to Pakistan after the Ireland tour, instead of going to Australia, to discuss manager Intikhab Alam’s report on the West Indies tour. Waqar was supposed to go to Australia to see his wife, who is unwell, but has been asked to return to Pakistan if her illness is not serious.”We want to discuss in detail the report of manager Intikhab Alam on the tour and if Waqar comes here it will help us discuss the report in a better way,” Subhan Ahmed, CEO of the Pakistan board told reporters in Lahore.There has been speculation over differences between Waqar and Shahid Afridi, and matters apparently came to a head during Pakistan’s recent tour of West Indies, where Afridi was the captain for the limited-overs leg of the tour. Afridi was reportedly unhappy with what he saw as Waqar’s interference in selection; one report claimed Afridi almost walked out of a selection meeting ahead of the fourth ODI against West Indies and had to be persuaded by Intikhab to come back.Afridi hinted at these differences upon his arrival from the West Indies for which he was issued a showcause notice by the PCB and subsequently was replaced as Pakistan’s ODI captain for their tour of Ireland. Afridi pulled out of that tour and has since announced his “conditional” retirement from the international game, as a mark of protest against the way he has been “humiliated” by the PCB. However, Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman said that there were “solid reasons” for the removal of Afridi as ODI captain and the board would take appropriate action after submission of the tour-report after the conclusion of the West Indies tour as well as deal with Afridi’s showcause notice.Former Pakistan cricketers have criticised the board’s handling of Afridi. “This is a mistake of [the] PCB administration. Afridi never took any names while he criticised the policies and board took note of that. Why [is] no one in the government taking notice of PCB’s actions of last three years?” Moin Khan told AFP. Wasim Akram agreed that the board had been unfair towards Afridi, but said the captain should not have gone public with the team’s issues. “As Pakistan captain, Afridi should not have made his differences with [the] coach public and should have solved them without coming to the media,” he said. “But the PCB has also not tackled this fairly.”Subhan said that Afridi would not be part of the meeting and added that the PCB would first discuss the report with the team management.

With Sri Lankan cricket undergoing a complete change at their helm, new head of selectors Duleep Mendis said there will be new blood in the team as well. Kumar Sangakkara, when quitting the captaincy, said it was because Sri Lanka needed to build a new team for the 2015 World Cup, and Mendis echoed those sentiments, saying the team needed to rebuild.”Rebuilding is going to be the key in the coming months,” Mendis said. “Some things may not work, some tactics may pay off.” Mendis will head a panel that features four past cricketers: Brendon Kuruppu, Don Arunasiri, Ranjith Madurasinghe and Chaminda Mendis.Muttiah Muralitharan, who had led Sri Lanka’s bowling for more than a decade, is retired from all forms of the game, while some of their other key players are past thirty: Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are both 33, while Tillakaratne Dilshan is 34. In addition, Lasith Malinga, though just 27, has had an injury-laden career and said he will not be around for the next World Cup.Mendis said the 2015 World Cup was something Sri Lanka had to build towards from now, and that required looking for players from junior squads.”Right now, the A team is the most important feeder mechanism for the main team. Our job in the months ahead is to scout for talent to replace some of the older players as we face several tours in the coming months.”Our cricket calendar is full in the coming months, but our task is also to build a pool to face the 2015 World Cup to be played in Australia and New Zealand.”Sri Lanka will tour England in May, and Australia later in the year. They are also hosts for the World Twenty20 in 2012. Ahead of the England tour, the selectors will have to name a captain and vice-captain. Sangakkara has offered to captain the Test side in England, in order to give the selectors more time to choose a new one, but Mendis said nothing had been decided yet.”We need at least a week to make the announcement,” Mendis said. “I was very surprised with Kumar’s resignaton. Very surprised he wanted to quit captaining the one-day side too.”

Ricky Ponting has nominated David Hussey and Steven Smith as the men in danger of being axed from Australia’s side to squeeze Michael Hussey in for Sunday’s match against Kenya. However, the Australians won’t be tempted to rest any of their best XI, with Ponting’s men desperate for action having been twiddling their thumbs during a two-week break since their last full game.Hussey has trained strongly since joining the squad in Bangalore as the replacement for Doug Bollinger, impressing the medical staff with how quickly he has recovered from surgery on his hamstring. The Australians will wait to see how Hussey handles Saturday’s training session before confirming him in the side, but Ponting said it would be a difficult call as to who would miss out.”It’s going to be a very tough decision, and one that up until a week ago we probably didn’t think we’d have to make,” Ponting said. “I’ve had a close look at [Mike] the last couple of days in training. He’s striking the ball really well. The physio forced him to do some quite intense running yesterday out on the ground. He got through that particularly well.”I think if you looked at two players that you’d have to single out who are in the same sort of position as Mike plays, it’s going to be unfortunately probably his brother or someone like Steven Smith. They’re the roles that Mike will come and play for us. We’ll have that sorted out by the morning.”The chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, was due to join the touring group on Saturday evening to replace David Boon as the selector on duty, and the Hussey decision is the only one likely to be required for this game. The backup players Callum Ferguson, Tim Paine and John Hastings will remain on the sidelines, but could come in to contention for Wednesday’s clash with Canada.The first-choice batsmen are in need of some valuable time in the middle, having not batted since the win over New Zealand in Nagpur on February 25. While sides like Sri Lanka and England have only one group match remaining, the Australians have three to play, and men like Ponting and Cameron White have spent hardly any time at the crease.”We won’t be resting,” Ponting said. “We’ve had enough rest over the last 16 days. We’ve had about one-third of a game in the last 16 days. We’ve trained really hard, we trained really well leading into the Sri Lanka game and this week since we’ve been here in Bangalore, we’ve trained particularly well again, so we’re really keen to get out there and play some cricket.”What it does do, it gives you a chance to prepare very well. We should be exceptionally well prepared for the next two games we’ve got coming up because we’ve had such a long break. It gives our players a chance to get over any little niggles they might have had from the previous games as well. We’re probably the only team in the tournament that will have a break that long. “The Australians have played Kenya twice before in World Cups, winning with relative ease on both occasions, and the Kenyan outfit of 2011 is notably weaker than their previous line-ups. But Ponting said there was no way his men would slip in to complacency against Kenya, whose only wins against Test nations since 2003 have come against Zimbabwe.”We won’t take any game lightly,” Ponting said. “We want to go out there and play the best cricket that we can. We know that we’ve got Kenya and Canada and then Pakistan just around the corner, then you’ve got quarter-finals and semi-finals. We haven’t played a great deal of cricket yet in the tournament, so it’s all about us getting our way right in the business end of the tournament, so that means that we go out tomorrow and play the best game of cricket that we possibly can.”

Of all the things Peter Borren, the Netherlands captain, has had to catch recently, a tape recorder probably wasn’t one of them. When one such device was casually flung across the table he was seated at, moments before his press conference in Delhi began, his eyes widened, a solid red blush crept over his face and he spoke before he could think. “Oh s**t, that caught me by surprise,” he said, with a nervous laugh.The journalists giggled with him, the tape recorder tosser apologised with a small raise of his hand, perhaps a little embarrassed for having done something so casual and the press conference began. Most people spoke to Borren like he was an old friend, catching up on social concerns, like whether people recognise the Dutch cricketers when they walk around street (No, they don’t and according to Borren they may not even recognise Sachin Tendulkar) and the soccer craze in Europe.It’s these more personal interactions that make the Associates so valuable in major tournaments. They remind most that there are cricketers beyond the Dhonis, Muralitharans, Kallises and Pontings, who are considered ultra-human some of the time. There are cricketers who juggle a full-time job, a family and their passion for playing the sport and when they get picked for the national side, their balancing act only becomes more delicate. Their challenges are completely different to those of the full-member teams, who have the luxury of only thinking about the game, and that’s what makes them so interesting.”We are not a fully professional outfit but we have a core group of guys who live and work in Holland,” Borren said. “It can be a disadvantage that we don’t work together all the time but given the sacrifices that the guys make to be out here, with some of them working 40-hour weeks and having families, it’s a strength as well. We’ve given up a lot to be here so we are quite tight as a unit.”Even though the Dutch Cricket Association has 16 players on incremental contracts, the team only actually works together for a few months of the year. Coach Peter Drinnen said the players spent the past seven weeks preparing for this tournament and they usually get that much time together in a regular year before some head off to the English domestic limited-overs competition, the CB40, and others return to their day jobs. He describes their preparation as a “rollercoaster” which they hop and off in their attempt to develop the sport.Despite their intermittent training schedule, Drinnen finds no problem keeping the team’s eyes on the ball when it matters. “It’s not difficult at all to motivate them. It’s more of a management thing for me, especially time management. They’ve got families and loved ones to see and so I have to help them to get the best out of their training. Motivation is not a problem because this is a big environment.”The Dutch certainly thrive off performing on the big stage, and they showed that against England in their World Cup opener, where they posted a competitive 292 for 6. Although England won comfortably in the end, the fight in the minnows was there for all to see and it is set to continue as the tournament goes on.”We are here to cause surprises and if people think that’s it a surprise that we competed, that’s not good enough for us. We’re here to get results on the board,” Borren said.West Indies are the next team they face and, judging by the decline that team has found themselves in, it should be almost an even contest. “We’ve had time to reflect on what was a reasonably good performance against England and we are looking forward to the game.” They may be being a bit harsh on themselves to call their previous showing only “reasonable” but it reflects their seriousness to keep improving and give a respectable account of themselves at this tournament. “The other night we may not have got it quite right with the ball,” Drinnen said.After watching the match between South Africa and the West Indies, Drinnen said Netherlands “will consider” using more spinners. Offspinner Tom Cooper and left-arm spinner Peieter Seelaar played against England and they have another offspinner, Adeel Raja, waiting in the wings. Borren would also like to a few others contributing with the bat. Ryan ten Doeschate’s century was the major contribution to their score against England and Borren said the rest of team can learn from “how he paced it and took advantage of the Powerplay.”It’s this type of fine tuning that they want to get right that shows that the Dutch are sincere about their ambition to keep improving, not only for themselves but to increase the popularity of cricket in their home country. “The better we do, the more awareness there is about the sport.” So focused are they on growing the game that they don’t even seem too bothered by whether or not their performances will change the ICC’s mind about the number of teams in the next World Cup. “2015 is still four years away and we have a job to do here,” Borren said.

Kenya won their second successive warm-up game, chasing down Ireland‘s 176 despite losing seven wickets in the end at the ICC Global Cricket Academy. Maurice Ouma led the chase with a patient half-century after Seren Waters and David Obuya had given Kenya a quick start, putting on 46 inside nine overs. Andre Botha, who was the pick of the Irish bowlers, dismissed the openers but Ouma found enough support in Collins Obuya and Rakep Patel to take Kenya closer. A clutch of wickets fell towards the end, but Kenya finally closed out the game in the 46th over.The fact that Ireland managed what they did was largely due to Ed Joyce. He rebuilt the innings in the company of the tail after Kenya’s seam attack had run through seven Irish batsmen for 63 runs. Nehemiah Odhiambo, Peter Ongondo, Elijah Otieno and Thomas Odoyo were more than a handful, and despite a steady start at 52 for 2, Ireland lost the next five wickets for 11. But Joyce and Andrew White dug in to take them past 100, and the tail managed to play out all but one of the 50 overs to guide them to 176, which proved too little in the end.After the win against Afghanistan two days ago, this victory will further boost Kenya’s confidence that would have been dented heavily after they lost all five games to sides comprising mostly of age-group players on their recent tour of Indian state Gujarat.Zimbabwe made short work of Netherlands at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, rustling up 249 and then blowing Netherlands away for 134. Brendan Taylor made another half-century at the top of the order, and there were also useful contributions from Tatenda Taibu and Regis Chakabva. But Mudassar Bukhari and Bernard Loots took some quick wickets as Zimbabwe slipped to 158 for 7 at one stage. Graeme Cremer responded with a run-a-ball 42, and together with Prosper Utseya and Shingirai Masakadza took Zimbabwe to the brink of 250.Chris Mpofu and Elton Chigumbura tore through Netherlands after Ed Rainsford had provided an early breakthrough, taking six wickets between them. Netherlands lost regular wickets and were never in the game, getting bowled out for 134 in the 34th over. Opener Alexei Kervezee’s 33 was the highest score for them. Bukhari hammered two sixes in his 28 and Bradley Kruger three fours in his 22, but there was not much else to cheer about.Afghanistan shot out Canada for 105, and then chased down the target with more than 26 overs to spare in Dubai. Hamid Hassan, the Afghanistan captain, and Shapoor Zadran almost ended the match as a contest soon after Canada chose to bat, sending back half the side with eight runs on the board. But Khurram Chohan and Jimmy Hansra stuck in to make twenties, and Balaji Rao and Harvir Baidwan took Canada just past 100. Mirwais Ashraf ensured Canada didn’t have too much of a recovery, taking 4 for 39.Canada’s bowlers tried gamely, but there weren’t enough runs to defend. Asghar Stanikzai made a quick 27, and the others chipped in as Afghanistan won comfortably with five wickets remaining.

Sean Ervine has pulled out of Zimbabwe’s squad for the World Cup, and will remain at Hampshire in 2011. Ervine, who had been named in both the preliminary and finalised squads for the tournament, had a change of heart shortly before the national team were due to depart for a training camp in Dubai.”After having had time to reflect on all of the circumstances, I have realised that this is not the right time to leave Hampshire,” said Ervine. “I have a great relationship with this club and its supporters and I feel like part of a family. I feel Hampshire is my home; so much so that I am planning to get married there next year. I do not, therefore, want to be away for long periods of time.”It had appeared certain that Ervine would part ways with Hampshire to reignite his international career, which he described as his “ultimate goal”, but his decision not to play for Zimbabwe means he will not be considered an overseas player – a position filled by legspinner Imran Tahir at Hampshire – and will therefore be eligible to play for the county in all forms of the game in 2011. Ervine had proved a success in his six years with the club, helping the team to three trophies, scoring 3,956 first-class runs and taking 118 first class wickets in the process.”We are very happy that Sean has come to this conclusion,” said Hampshire manager Giles White. “He is an important and highly-valued cricketer who is popular with everyone associated with The Rose Bowl and central to our plans for the future.”Alistair Campbell, the head of Zimbabwe’s selection panel and former national captain, expressed his disappointment at Ervine’s withdrawal. “Zimbabwe Cricket was very excited about Sean coming back into the setup. However, he may not have realised that international cricket is a lot harder than he remembers,” Campbell said in a ZC statement.”He has lived a very comfortable life in county cricket for the last six years and obviously decided at the last minute he might not be up to the challenges of international cricket after all. A lot of people have gone to a lot of effort to make it happen for Sean. Although is very late in the day to change his mind, it is better than realising his mistake during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.”ZC has approached the ICC Event Technical Committee to seek approval for batsman Tino Mawoyo to replace Ervine in the squad. An opening batsman, Mawoyo played two one-day internationals against Bangladesh in 2006 and is a regular in the Zimbabwe A line-up. He had been named as a non-travelling reserve for the World Cup before Ervine’s last-minute departure. Craig Ervine, Sean’s younger brother, remains part of Zimbabwe’s squad.