ON THE BACK of Tuesday’s defeat to South Africa, the qualification hurdles are coming thick and fast for Ireland and blundering another fence would be a major setback in the race for the World Cup quarter-finals.
In theory, Saturday’s meeting with Zimbabwe in Hobart (3.30am Irish time) is not make-or-break but suffering a second consecutive Pool B loss would leave Ireland with an uphill task to finish inside the top four.
Trying to work out the permutations remains a complex task but what we are sure of is that two more victories, from their final three group games, would secure Phil Simmons’ side a place in the knock-out stages. Anything less and you start to rely on other results going your way.
By winning their opening two games of the campaign, Ireland got out of the blocks quickly but the 201-run reversal to the Proteas, although an expected result, dented the net run-rate and saw them drop down one place to fifth in Pool B.
That said, the squad appeared to be in high spirits as they made the journey south for tonight’s game at the Bellerive Oval. William Porterfield has insisted the chastening defeat to South Africa has done little to affect confidence within the camp but the significance of the clash with Zimbabwe cannot be understated.
The African side have lost three of their four games but two points from their trip to Tasmania would reignite their campaign and bring them into contention for that fourth spot – the stakes couldn’t be any higher.
“I don’t think it is make or break [on Saturday]. Every game for ourselves, we’ve gone into it looking for those two points,” Porterfield said. “We did it against the West Indies, UAE… and against Zimbabwe it’s not going to be any different.
“We’re going to prepare for Hobart as we have every other game. It’s a pretty big two points for us [if we can get them].”
Zimbabwe’s only victory came against UAE but they squandered good positions against South Africa and Pakistan to leave their hopes of qualification hanging by a thread.
Yet, such a do-or-die scenario is a dangerous one for Ireland to come up against but Zimbabwe are inconsistent if anything. The loss of captain Elton Chigumbura through injury is a huge blow to a side afflicted by disharmony right up until the start of the tournament.
There are no such problems for Ireland as they arrived from Canberra reporting a clean bit of health. Phil Simmons’ hugely successful seven year tenure has been underpinned by consistency in selection so there has been no surprise to see him stick with those that have served him so well.
But the performances of Max Sorensen have left a lot to be desired. The fast-bowler was a last minute call-up following an injury to Tim Murtagh and has looked off the pace in the opening three games.
He leaked 76 runs from just six overs against South Africa and has failed to find any sort of consistency with the new ball. Should the management decide change is required, Craig Young is the obvious deputy having been Ireland’s stand-out bowler in the preparatory tours.
Ireland will have fond memories of the last time the sides met at the World Cup. The tie in Sabina Park eight years ago set the Boys in Green on their way to the knock-out stages of that tournament under the tutelage of Adi Birrell.
Although nothing can be decided in the early hours of Saturday morning, another positive result against the Zimbabweans would be go along way to helping Ireland reach the last eight this time around.
- Originally published 0745
Heysel hurt Everton more than any other English club. Denied their greatest side a chance to compete in Europe.
@@TJPPK: you are right but i think as a whole England tried (and succeed ) after hysel and Hillsborough.
@@TJPPK: as an Everton fan I can tell ya that damage is still felt at the club today to an extent. We aren’t bitter about it in the slightest but sometimes ya can’t help but wonder what could have been if it wasn’t for a bunch of hooligans that night, not just for Everton but for all English sides after that
@@TJPPK: Not really. If the tragedy hasn’t happened, Liverpool would have won that game; both Liverpool and Everton would have been in the European Cup. Liverpool suffered too.
@Ian Heaton: they lost the game if memory serves me right, what makes you think without tragedy they would’ve won it?? Jive great side then..
@Philip Mckenna: They lost 1-0 to a penalty that wasn’t, which was to possibly appease the Juve fans. Liverpool couldn’t exactly go out and try to win the game after what had happened. We had a great side too, and we were defending European champions.
I remember watching that game in my teens, shocking shocking scenes, as a Liverpool supporter myself and everyone at the time expected some sort of violence but what unfolded was surreal, the bodies on the field both captains trying to calm the fans before the game resumed, the subsequent inquiry about the state of the stadium, how opposing sets of fans occupying places in the neutral zone, but most of all the dead and injured fans who in the main went out to watch what should have been a great game of ball, and not least the disappointment and disbelief that a section of the Liverpool support caused the mayhem, I recall telling my uncle at the time “this is not why I support Liverpool” coz fu@k it people all them poor souls just went to watch a game of ball and never made it home.
Really interesting read, well done
More likely should be called 2 classes of supporters. 1 the normal decent supporters, 2 the thugs. And most people will remember those thugs ringleaders were from upper class bankers,office workers and other financial institutions looking for kicks total animals
These articles care superb reads lads. Love them!
The night it happened, I was 13 years old and I decided to never have anything to do with that game ever again.
Haven’t watched another soccer match since.
Some mullets in those days
The way in which thatcher is vilified in articles like this is getting tedious. Granted, she wasn’t universally popular and her record in Ireland is appalling, but you would think sometimes that she was a tinpot dictator like Putin rather than a democratically elected leader who comfortably won three elections in a row. If she represented the minority, why did a majority back her? Are all British voters essentially fascist? Or did they remember the utter disasters of a union dominated labour administration? Could it be that a significant number of the sainted working class actually supported her? No, surely not.
@Cathal O’Donoghue: Try being a Scouser living under her regime. There was wishes to run the city down to nothing.
Where’s the comments gone lads? I thought I was having a reasonable conversation with another poster don’t let the kids take over the asylum.
@Dae Monicus: i think its gone to a stage of just cutting the whole thread?
@Stephen Coveney: So much for unhateful free speech Stephen, cheers for the heads up squire.
@Dae Monicus: all my comments were removed. I posted nothing offensive. Journal is a joke. China has more press freedom.
@kevin: I couldn’t agree more Kevin but at the time all clubs had somewhat of an hooligan element and I can’t condone that, however not the clubs as such but those whos fans, patrticuary those with a strong Irish connection ie Liverpool, Utd, Birmingham, Everton did face a lot of bias to be fair and again it doesn’t justify what happened at games it was just a reflection of the times.
60k a year 3 times the average wage???? 20k was the average wage in mid 80’s really??? Apart from that good read