Cricket Under-19 World Cup: After a pretty encouraging spell in the field, restricting Zimbabwe to 215 and giving the 30 or so Irish supporters cause to hope for a surprise victory, Ireland contrived to collapse in spectacular fashion in their opening match yesterday.
Make no mistake, there is plenty of talent in this Irish side, but for whatever reason the team seems to rely heavily on two or three batsmen to make the lion's share of the runs. If those players fail, as they did, the rest seem reluctant to salvage the situation.
One of those key players is Eoin Morgan. The left-hander from Santry is tipped to become a mainstay of the Middlesex senior batting line-up, and he is already a regular in the full Irish team. But so far this trip, in three knocks, he has scored a grand total of 15 runs, and yesterday was his most ignominious demise.
Looking good on 13 after hitting two nice boundaries, he attempted to paddle-sweep a straight delivery from Kudakwashe Samuderu. He missed, the ball hit. And the Irish groaned.
In the end, no Irish batsman passed 20, thanks to a fine spell from opening bowler Keagon Meith (3-12 off nine overs). and Ireland were all out for 97, some 118 short of victory.
Wednesday's clash with the more fancied English team now looks as likely to end in an Irish victory as London to win the Sam Maguire Cup.
"It's very disappointing," said Morgan afterwards, not about to put a positive spin on such a comprehensive defeat. "Our batting department let us down today and that's a big concern. But we will look forward to the England match on Wednesday. We'll raise our game for that one and hopefully cause a big upset," he said.
What made this defeat so disheartening was that by half-time, Ireland were genuinely in contention to register their first win at this level over a Test nation. Despite some tight bowling by Neil Gill, Zimbabwe had started well, getting to 100 for 1 off 20 overs and looking comfortable.
But Ireland's spinners tied them down, took a couple of key wickets and restricted them to 215 for 7.
"I think today was down mostly to our bad play," said Morgan.
