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Ireland go flat in defeat by Nepal
James Fitzgerald, Irish Times After coming to within four runs of beating England in a nail-biter the day before, Ireland were unable to repeat that performance yesterday, losing by 60 runs in a much less glamorous fixture of the Under 19 World Cup against supposed minnows Nepal. The Irish are now consigned to the bottom of Group D and take their place in the plate competition with a game against either Pakistan or New Zealand next Tuesday. It is a disappointing end to a tour that promised so much and almost delivered on that promise. Had they found those four runs from somewhere on Wednesday to register what would have been a historic victory over England, then surely they would have put in a more determined and polished effort against the Nepalese yesterday. There was something very flat about the overall display. The bowlers lacked the sort of precision and penetration that they had the day before and the fielding was, at times, terrible with catches being dropped and most outfielders unable to attack the ball effectively. Although Nepal have some good batters at the top of their order, particularly Kanishka Chaugai, once Ireland had got into them, they should have strangled them out for at least 50 runs less than they eventually conceded. Nepal managed to get to 234 for 8 off 50 overs with only Gary Kidd (2-32 off ten overs) and Niall McDarby (3-43) bowling anything like they should. When it came to Ireland's turn with the bat, Eoin Morgan finally showed why he is touted as the next big thing in Irish cricket having had a quiet tournament by his standards. But those batting around him could not emulate his success in hitting the gaps and all too often Morgan was left at the non-striker's end while his batting partner scratched away, unable to get the tight Nepal bowling away. And it was tight bowling. The Nepal team bowled and fielded to a well-thought out and well-executed game plan. They starved Morgan of the strike while putting pressure on the other end. Eventually, having made 86 well-crafted runs, Morgan felt boundaries were needed and danced down the track in an effort to loft Shashi Kesari over his end, only to miss the ball and be stumped well out of his ground. It signalled the end of Ireland's challenge in the match. Fintan McAllister (14) and Andrew Poynter (28) also contributed but with nothing like the class of their captain and this side does not seem to have the depth in batting required to chase good totals when wickets are falling. "Nepal batted with a bit of purpose. We failed to do that," said Morgan afterwards. "They bowled to a defensive field, tied us down and we were unable to cope with that. I was impressed with them. They did their disciplines well. They impressed me as a unit. They wanted it more than we did today," he said. "We spoke last night and tried to eliminate the disappointment of the England game from our minds but we're only human. We were quite down this morning," he admitted. |
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