Email This Article To Someone!It was very much the Andrew White and Kyle McCallan show at Malahide yesterday, as the pair combined to put Ireland in a very strong position at the close of play on day two of their InterContinental Cup clash with Canada.
White scored his third century for Ireland, making an unbeaten 109 from 144 balls, which included 14 boundaries, the majority of which came through the leg side, as the Canadians too often strayed in length and direction. This was a much more conventional White knock � gone were the reverse and paddle sweeps, used to such great effect in the T20 WCQ. Those 3 centuries have spanned 8 years, since he made 111 against Denmark way back in 2000, and famously 152 not out in this same competition against The Netherlands in 2004. That innings impressed the watching Rob Bailey, and White was given a two year contract with Northants on the strength of it.
That didn�t work out for both camps, and it has taken till now for White to regain his fragile confidence. Too often seen as a �bits and pieces� cricketer on the international stage, this may well be the launching pad for his renaissance. He shared in a 5th wicket partnership of 152 in 34 overs with Kevin O�Brien, taking Ireland from 142 for 4 to 296 for 6. O�Brien hit 9 fours and 4 trademark straight sixes in a 97 ball score of 75, and from that point, it was only a matter of when, rather than if, Ireland declared.
They had been given a solid start by Reinhardt Strydom (33) ,and Paul Stirling (40), who added 64 for the opening wicket before Strydom was trapped lbw by Thurasingham. Stirling also fell lbw to left arm spinner Dhaniram, and the big wicket of Andre Botha came just before lunch, bowled by a Faridi long hop for 6. Poynter made a patient 23, but his wicket was as good as it got for a long time, for in truth a pretty poor Canadian side, whose fielding got steadily worse as the game progressed. O�Brien holed out on the long-off boundary, missing out on what looked a certain century, while Trent Johnston lobbed a return catch to Eoin Katchay, to depart for just 5.
Skipper McCallan hit 17 from 14 balls before calling time with the score on 326 for 6 after 88 overs. That allowed Ireland 16 overs to get amongst Canada, but it took a moment of madness from Gunasekara to give them the vital breakthrough. He obviously had never heard of the old maxim to never run on a mis-field, but he did just that when McCallan stumbled at mid-on. He attempted a second that was never really on, and McCallan atoned for his fumble and threw down the stumps to leave Gunasekara well short with his direct hit.
Iqbal threatened briefly with two boundaries off consecutive Trent Johnston deliveries, but it was that man McCallan who ensured Ireland ended the day on a high. Switching to around the wicket, he had Iqbal caught off bat/pad by Andrew Poynter at silly mid-off, and the next ball bowled Faridi through the gate, to leave Canada floundering at 31 for 3. It now seems only the weather can deny Ireland the victory, and there was more good news when Scotland and Kenya were unable to get any play in for the second successive day. The action at Malahide resumes at 10:30am toorrow morning, with 106 overs to be played in the day.
Day 2 Scorecard
| Ireland Vs Canada |
| 1-Innings Match Played At Malahide, 07-Aug-2008, First Class InterconCup |
| Round | 677 |
| Toss won by | Ireland |
| Umpires | C McElwee (Ireland) , S Prasad (Singapore) |
| Comment | 677/13 4 day match 7-10 August Close: Day 1: No play Day 2 Canada 31-3 (G Barnett18*, Quaiser Ali 2*) ( A White 101 131 balls 12x 4) Day 3 |
| Ireland 1st Innings 326/6 Declared (Overs 88) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| PR Stirling | lbw | b S Dhaniram | 40 | 109 | 88 | 4 | 0 |
| R Strydom | lbw | b S Thurasingham | 33 | 72 | 68 | 4 | 0 |
| AD Poynter | c Umar Bhatti | b S Welsh | 23 | 107 | 92 | 2 | 0 |
| AC Botha | b S Faridi | 6 | 30 | 19 | 1 | 0 | |
| AR White | not out | 109 | 219 | 144 | 14 | 0 | |
| KJ O'Brien | c Qaiser Ali | b S Welsh | 75 | 117 | 97 | 9 | 4 |
| DT Johnston | c&b; E Katchay | 5 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| WK McCallan* | not out | 17 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 0 | |
| FP McAllister+ | dnb | - | |||||
| GJ Thompson | dnb | - | |||||
| P Connell | dnb | - | |||||
| extras | (b8 lb9 w1 nb0) | 18 | |||||
| TOTAL | 6 wickets for | 326 |
| FOW |
| 1-64(R Strydom) 2-88(PR Stirling) 3-104(AC Botha) 4-142(AD Poynter) |
| 5-296(KJ O'Brien) 6-301(DT Johnston) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| S Welsh | 23 | 5 | 89 | 2 | - | - |
| E Katchay | 12 | 0 | 45 | 1 | 1 | - |
| S Thurasingham | 13 | 5 | 29 | 1 | - | - |
| S Dhaniram | 17 | 3 | 48 | 1 | - | - |
| S Faridi | 17 | 1 | 83 | 1 | - | - |
| Qaiser Ali | 6 | 0 | 15 | 0 | - | - |
| Canada 1st Innings 31/3 (Overs 16) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| GEF Barnett | not out | 6 | 57 | 37 | 0 | 0 | |
| R Gunasekara | run out WK McCallan | 0 | 15 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mohammed Iqbal | c AD Poynter | b WK McCallan | 18 | 33 | 36 | 3 | 0 |
| S Faridi | b WK McCallan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Qaiser Ali | not out | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |
| A Kandappa | dnb | - | |||||
| S Dhaniram | dnb | - | |||||
| Umar Bhatti+ | dnb | - | |||||
| S Thurasingham* | dnb | - | |||||
| S Welsh | dnb | - | |||||
| E Katchay | dnb | - | |||||
| extras | (b0 lb5 w0 nb0) | 5 | |||||
| TOTAL | 3 wickets for | 31 |
| FOW |
| 1-3(R Gunasekara) 2-27(Mohammed Iqbal) 3-27(S Faridi) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| P Connell | 5 | 2 | 8 | 0 | - | - |
| KJ O'Brien | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - |
| WK McCallan | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 | - | - |
| DT Johnston | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | - | - |
| GJ Thompson | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - |