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We’ve listed ten top moments in Irish international cricket from the last 12 months. What do you think of the list? Did we miss an important moment that you think should make the top ten?
If we missed one, why not tell us on Twitter or Instagram.
Moments #10 – Mark Adair announces himself
While there are so many moments from Mark Adair’s first year in international cricket that we could have pointed to, potentially the boundary he slapped down the ground off Jofra Archer, immediately followed by putting Tom Curran into the stands twice in the next over during the Ireland v England ODI at Malahide was the moment in time that Adair announced himself. Read the match report.
Moments #9 – Paul Stirling hits six straight scores above fifty
The man who finished with the highest T20I runs of anyone in the world during 2019 certainly hit his straps by mid-2019. Stirling’s hot trot saw him score 77, 130, 71, 50, 57 and 52 in six ODI innings against West Indies, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. To top it all off, Stirling committed his future to Ireland. Read article.
Moments #8 – Women’s Contracts
A game-changer? Start of a new era? The date 7 May 2019 will go down as the day the women’s game in Ireland started down the professional route. Six players – Laura Delany, Kim Garth, Mary Waldron, Shauna Kavanagh, Gaby Lewis and Celeste Raack – received the first ever semi-professional contracts for Irish women. Read an article.
Moments #7 – Balbirnie’s 145* gets Ireland home
Needing 257 in the 3rd ODI against Afghanistan at Dehradun, Ireland’s run chase faltered at 73-4 in the 16th over. Step up Andrew Balbirnie who smashed 145* from 136 balls, ably assisted by George Dockrell’s well-timed 54. Ireland won by four wickets with an over to spare. Read match report.
Moments #6 – Kevin O’Brien hits Ireland’s first ever T20I century
It may have been a warm-up tournament ahead of the Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier, but the Ireland v Hong Kong match on 7 October 2019 was an official T20I and O’Brien smashed 124 from 62 balls to register Ireland’s first ever T20I century. Read an interview.
Moments #5 – Mary Waldron’s flier
Ireland Women’s Mary Waldron is used to breaking records, whether as a player or umpire, and had a great year personally including registering her first international half-century against West Indies in a T20I. But during the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in 2019 she received global cricket plaudits for her flying catch behind the stumps. See the catch.
Moments #4 – T20I series win from last ball
A Men’s T20I Tri-Series hosted at Malahide in September saw some sublime cricket between Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands. The series decider not only came down to the last match between Ireland and Scotland, but in fact came down to the last ball. Needing 16 to win from the last over, Scotland scored 12 from the first five balls. Shane Getkate held his nerve and bowled the last ball full and restricted the Scots who were run out going for a second run. See the scorecard.
Moments #3 – Kim Garth stars with the bat against West Indies
After an injury to captain Laura Delany sustained in the first T20I of the three-match series, Garth stepped into the captaincy role for the remainder of the series and hit 46, 51 and 45 – showing her ability to lead the line with the bat as well as the ball. Read match report.
Moments #2 – T20 World Cup Qualification secured
While the tournament saw the Ireland Men’s team’s performance fluctuate throughout, the squad did enough to qualify for the 2020 Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia. While there were several individual performances of note, Paul Stirling made the Team of the Tournament, while Mark Adair finished with remarkable bowling figures for the tournament, with 12 wickets at an average of 12.50, and only conceding a miserly 4.8 runs per over.
Moments #1 – Tim Murtagh’s session
Lord’s Cricket Ground. Day One. Session One. Murtagh’s session. Enough said.
Highly commendables
Narrowing down to just ten is an almost impossible task, as so many more ‘moments’ are worth mentioning. Here are a list of highly commendable moments that could easily have made the top ten:
– Kim Garth’s exploits during her return to Australia to play for Perth Scorchers in the WBBL
– Ireland Men’s commanding ODI series win over Zimbabwe
– The Women’s team’s convincing third place playoff win at the T20 World Cup Qualifier showing the potential of the young side, despite the disappointment of missing qualification this time
– Kevin O’Brien hitting a world record number of sixes (36) in a calendar year in international cricket
– Lara Maritz and Celeste Raack being named in the ICC Women’s Global Development Squad
– Tim Murtagh’s Test half-century saving Ireland’s first innings blushes against Afghanistan
– Stuart Poynter’s last-ball six to beat Netherlands in a T20I in Oman
Craig Easdown
What made your Top 10?
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