Ireland make it through to ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia
Coach Graham Ford’s Ireland side head down under next year, helped by Jersey’s win over Oman to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020.
With more than a little Irish in the DNA, this particular Expat Sport’s feature writer was just a tad chuffed to see Ireland’s qualification settled for next year’s T20 spectacular in Australia. Although, admittedly this was only confirmed after they had topped Group B of the qualifying tournament, courtesy of the Channel Island of Jersey’s 14-run victory over Oman in Abu Dhabi on Sunday 27th of October 2019.
The Irish side had done everything in their power to qualify having put Nigeria through the wringer in their final game on the Saturday, a comprehensive victory that pushed them to the top of Group B on net run rate. Meanwhile Oman were tucked in neatly behind with a game in hand, which left the Gulf side knowing exactly what they needed to do going into their game against Jersey.
Yet the match did not go the regional team’s way. Having notched up 141 for seven from their 20 overs, Jersey went on to restrict Oman to 127 for nine with 23 year old allrounder Dominic Blampeid and a year his junior, leg spinner Elliot Miles, both taking three wickets apiece. Oman slipped to defeat against the channel islanders; 14 runs adrift in their final group game and behind Ireland on net run rate.
There was still a chance that skipper Gary Wilson’s Ireland might have been overtaken by the teams playing in the final Group B game between hosts the UAE and Canada. However, it would have needed one or other of those teams to win by a substantial margin to upset the Irish applecart. That possibility soon faded away to confirm Ireland as group winners and allow them to celebrate, with the UAE running out winners by 14 runs.
Irish Squad: Gary Wilson (captain – wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman), Mark Adair (allrounder), Andy Balbirnie (batsman & occasional wicketkeeper), David Delany (bowler right-arm medium-fast), Gareth Delany (allrounder), George Dockrell (bowler slow left-arm), Shane Getkate (allrounder), Kevin O’Brien (allrounder), Boyd Rankin (bowler right-arm medium-fast), Simi Singh (batsman middle-order), Paul Stirling (allrounder), Harry Tector (batsman right-handed), Stuart Thompson (allrounder), Lorcan Tucker (wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman), Craig Young (bowler right-arm medium-fast).
Ireland are presently 14th in the ICC T20I rankings overall.
ICC’s watch list player is 19-year-old Harry Tector, who only made his T20I debut in September but had an instant impact. He registered his maiden international fifty (60) against the Netherlands in the Ireland Tri-Nations Series that month and followed on with a match-winning 47 not out against the same opposition in early-October’s Oman Pentagular Series. Along with his right-arm off-breaks and athletically alert fielding skills, Tector is definitely one of the key players in Ireland’s T20I future.
Ireland, along with their five fellow qualifiers, join Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group stages of next year’s tournament, running from 18th to 23rd of October. The eight teams will be divided into two groups: Sri Lanka plus the three teams making up Group A play their games at Kardinia Park in Geelong located southwest of Melbourne. Whereas Group B’s matches are to be played at the Bellerive Oval based in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart.
The top two from each of these groups go forward to join the eight top-ranked sides in the Super 12 stage of the tournament, which will be staged across Australia at venues in Hobart, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
