Kevin O' Brien- you beauty !!!

Ireland produced the biggest upset so far in this World Cup and as someone who has adopted Ireland as his second home country, I am delighted. Before the match went underway, there were a lot of jokes doing the rounds in case the highly improbable happens i.e. Ireland beat England. Some of them included declaring a national holiday in Ireland, Queen willing to marry Gadaffi and so on. Things looked pretty much on course for England during the first three quarters of the match but when the tsunami came in the form of Keven O'Brien (KOB), the English were completely washed away.

England innings:

England won the toss and opted to bat. Strauss and Peitersen started with a flourish until Strauss tried to be a little too cheeky and ended up losing his off stump with the score reading 91/1. Trott walked in to give company to Peitersen who looked well on course to get a three digit score, something that has eluded him for quite some time now. However, he fell in the same manner as Strauss, trying a reverse sweep when all he needed to do was to keep batting in the manner he had done until then. He did make a well composed 59 and looked in pretty good form, though. Trott and Bell then produced the kind of middle overs batting that is so central to the foundation of posting a huge total. In the process Trott also became the fastest batsman to reach 1000 ODI runs (or is it some other record ? I don't care, anyways :) ). Bell continued his fine run of form and the two rotated strike quite effectively in addition to frequent boundaries. At some stage, English looked all set for a total in excess of 350 (just like India against England) but that never happened. This time, it was not the batting PP though that derailed their batting cart. The fall of well set batsman (first Bell and then Trott) and the inability of the lower order (Collingwood and Prior- both of them have a pretty ordinary tournament so far) to come to the party eventually cost them at least 25 runs. However, the Irish also bowled a disciplined line and length and never gave any freebies. They were able to restrict them to 327 which looked a bit too much for Ireland at point of time.

Ireland innings:

Ireland started on a disastrous note losing their captain Porterfield on the very first ball of their innings as he drove loosely to Anderson and in the process dragged the ball on to his stumps. That brought Ed Joyce to the crease (funny as it may seem but this guy was playing for England in the last WC in Carribean). However, the tiny little innings that Paul Stirling played was definitely worth a watch. This guy is only 20 but he was hitting the likes of Broad and Anderson as if they were some nets bowlers. Stirling eventually got out when he top edged a pull which was safely pouched by Pietersen but nevertheless made a strong statement. That brought the first of the O'Brien brothers, Neil who played another little but attractive knock of 29 before he was castled by Swann. Ed Joyce seemed unperturbed and looked quite solid at the other end before he charged down the pitch to Swann, only to be stumped. That brought THE MAN to the pitch. KOB started in quite a lazy manner as he aimed an off drive to Swann, only for the ball to take an outside edge and run down the third man boundary. Things only became worse for Ireland when they lost Wilson to Swann with the score reading 111/5 in the 25th over.

With more than 200 runs to get, and with half of the batsmen back in the pavilion, even the most optimistic Irish fan would not have entertained the thoughts of a highly unlikely win. But KOB had other plans. Even as the wickets were falling at the other end, KOB went for his shots. First Yardy was hit for 2 fours in an over and then Swann was hit for 2 sixes (something that Sachin did the other day) in the next over. Subsequently Broad was hammered, courtesy of some brutal hitting and sloppy glove work by Prior. KOB also seemed to find an able ally in Alex Cusack who was willing to hold one end up but did not deter from punishing the loose deliveries either.

Ireland opted for the batting PP at the beginning of the 32nd over and this was the time when KOB just went berserk. 6 fours and 3 sixes came from the bat during this period (all from KOB's) and none of the bowlers was spared. 62 runs came in this PP and this definitely put the exciting run chase back on the track. At the end of PP, Ireland needed 99 from 14 overs. But it was pretty evident that if KOB is going to stay on for a while, the match could well finish before those 14 overs. As KOB was putting the English attack to the sword, records started to tumble and a lot came under threat. The first major one though was the fastest century in a WC game which was held by Matthew Hayden before this match. At the end of the 40th over, KOB looked all set to make this record his own as he was batting on 97 which had come off only 47 deliveries. KOB eventually got to that landmark in a mere 50 deliveries and I am sure that his moment of glory will be etched in the minds of cricket fans forever.

Ireland needed only 56 off the last 9 overs and it was only a question of holding their nerve then. There was a little moment of confusion when Cusack got run out (with 54 still needed) but he played second fiddle to KOB to perfection. He stemmed the fall of wickets, made an invaluable 47 (at a pretty decent strike rate) and so selflessly sacrificed his wicket to let KOB continue. Hats off to you, man! The departure of Cusack did change things though. Mooney was the new man in, and he initially struggled to rotate the strike. It also meant that KOB could be frustrated by the lack of the strike and may try something extravagant when he does get that eventually. However, the rub of the green went the Irish way as Mooney started to find boundaries (does not really matter if they initially came of outside edges). Ireland reached 300 in 46 overs and with only 27 needed off 4 overs, I declared that Ireland cannot lose from here (even though Connor silently prayed that I am not jinxing Ireland). Ireland needed only 12 off the last two overs and the unfortunate run out of KOB may have raised some hopes for the English, but with the experienced Johsnton (who hit the first ball he faced for four to release the pressure, if any) and the now calm-as-cucumber Mooney at the crease, Ireland won with 3 wickets and 5 balls to spare.

Needless to say, it was a fascinating game of cricket but I believe that it brings more joy and hope to a nation which has gone through a bit of turmoil off late (especially with the banks collapsing and the IMF coming in). While KOB's innings was a masterpiece, I would also like to draw parallels to something that not many would remember. It was exactly the same day (as per the Hindu calender- the Maha Shivratri) eight years ago at Centurion in 2003 (March 1,2003, to be precise) when Sachin Tendulkar demolished the Pakistani pace battery with a masterclass 97 off just 75 balls.

I am sure that KOB's knock will be in record books for a long time to come. And I will always feel privileged to tell the future generations that I witnessed a part of this knock while I was in Lab 1.27 in Lee Maltings, Cork, Ireland. :)

Good luck to the Irish team, but beware you are bumping into India next !!!