THERE was no 21 gun salute for Ireland yesterday at the Royal Military College of Malaysia where they completed an expected win over Israel by a margin of 10 wickets in the ICC Trophy.
In the beautiful setting of Kem Sungai Besi, just outside town, the only sound was from friendly fire - or more accurately mis-fire - as the Ireland quicker bowlers contributed 24 wides to an Israel total of 88 all out. As the ball swung and the umpires showed no leniency, coach Mike Hendrick was beside himself with frustration as often as wicketkeeper Allan Rutherford was beside second slip.
Mark Patterson was wide of the mark four times in his first over and overstepped as well, Ryan Eagleson also managed to stray four times in an over, and even Derek Heasley sent down three wayward deliveries at his, er, military medium pace.
Patterson feels he has let his team mates down in the opening two games of this World Cup campaign - wides were also top scorer for Gibraltar on Monday - but he still had the pace to claim two wickets when his radar homed in.
After Heasley tempted Israel's best batsman David Silver to slap one to cover, it was left to offspinners Neil Doak and Garfield Harrison to save Ireland a full session in the field.
Harrison took three wickets and bowled tidily enough to retain his place for the important group games against the US and Kenya, while Doak was the destroyer, hitting the stumps twice with wicked yorkers in a spell of 4-9 from 4.5 overs.
It is a shrewd tactic of Hendrick's to use Doak later in the innings when batsmen are quicker to latch onto anything that is wide or bounces. The little "darts" he fires in at a full length work on the principle of former fast bowler Brian Statham: "If you miss I hit."
If only Patterson could find a similar degree of accuracy his pace and movement could make the 22 year old feared above all others in the tournament. Hendrick decided against changing the batting order to give Doak or Angus Dunlop a hit, and the opening pair of Decker Curry and Alan Lewis cruised to victory 20 minutes after lunch.
Ireland are level with Kenya and the US in Group A - all have won two out of two - and with the phoney war over the real action starts today against the Americans.
