CRICKET/Ireland v Surrey: Ireland recorded a famous win over Surrey in the C and G Trophy when they cruised to victory with 10 balls to spare at Castle Avenue, Clontarf, yesterday.
The five-wicket triumph sets up a home third-round tie against Northamptonshire on Saturday, May 29th and ranks among the greatest achievements in Irish cricket history.
Ireland once famously bowled out Clive Lloyd's West Indies tourists for 25, while last season they beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in a tourists game at Stormont. But claiming the scalp of a first-class English county will eclipse all that.
Captain and opener Jason Molins set about chasing Ireland's 261 overnight target with relish.
He scored at just over a run a ball before Azhar Mahmood ended a 100-run first-wicket partnership with Jeremy Bray with Molins on 58.
Bray also went on to record his half century, before falling victim to Saqlain Mushtaq, and for a while it appeared Surrey had steadied the ship.
But Ireland were always in touch with the required run-rate of just over 5.5 per over and Gerald Dros smashed five boundaries, including a mammoth six, before Martin Bicknell forced him to hole out to Alistair Brown on 45.
Andre Botha and Peter Gillespie offered resistance with the bat before falling for 17 and 28 respectively, leaving Andrew White and Kyle McCallan to secure victory in the 49th over.
One-day specialists Surrey, who may regret leaving behind England stars Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe for this match, toiled after losing the toss during a first day peppered with rain breaks.
Brown's quick-fire 67 was the best they could muster while Adam Hollioake was dismissed just moments after securing his half-century.
Andrew White's off-breaks caused Surrey's middle order problems, his figures of three for 43 included the wickets of James Benning, Ian Salisbury and Pakistan international Azhar Mahmood.
South African Botha was the other major threat with the ball, claiming the wickets of Nadeem Salid, Bicknell and Saqlain Mushtaq as Surrey were restricted to a target Ireland coach Adrian Birrell was always confident of attaining.
Molins hopes that the shock five-wicket victory over Surrey might persuade the powers-that-be to include the Ireland side in the English County League.
He also believes that Ireland can follow in the footsteps of the Scottish Saltires and take part more regularly against first-class county opposition.
Molins, who top scored in Ireland's run chase with 58, said: "It would be great to compete in the National League.
"I think we are more than capable, as we proved here, and beating Surrey certainly won't harm our credentials.
"This win can only raise our profile and the third round game should attract lots of publicity.
"There are lots of things we compete against like football, rugby and Gaelic sports but the interest is there.
"The wins against Zimbabwe and Surrey are great, but they won't get us to the World Cup - that is the priority."
Molins insists that he was always confident of victory after restricting Surrey to just 261 during a rain-affected first day.
He added: "Obviously for a side like ourselves to come up against a full-time side of professionals like Surrey and beat them as comprehensively as we did is massive.
"It is hard to compare this win to the one over Zimbabwe because they were under different circumstances.
"Both are great achievements considering we are amateur and they are both full-time.
"This isn't necessarily the biggest shock in Irish cricket as I'm sure there have been others.
"I wouldn't want to describe Surrey as the Manchester United of cricket because I am a fan of United myself - maybe Arsenal might be a better comparison.
"There are eight internationals in their team - six English and two Pakistani. For us to come up against that level and get a result is amazing."
Castle Avenue Scoreboard
IRELAND V SURREY
Overnight: Surrey 261 (A D Brown 67, A J Hollioake 52).
Ireland Innings:
J A M Molins b Azhar Mahmood 58
J P Bray b Saqlain Mushtaq 52
A C Botha lbw b Salisbury 17
G Dros c Brown b Bicknell 45
P G Gillespie lbw b Azhar Mahmood 28
A R White not out 20
W K McCallan not out 18
Extras lb3 w15 nb6 24
Total (5 wkts; 48.2 overs) 262
Fall: 1-103, 2-137, 3-154, 4-221, 5-223.
Did Not Bat: E J G Morgan, D T Johnston, R L Eagleson, J A Bushe.
Bowling: Bicknell 10-0-55-1; Ormond 9-0-48-0; Azhar Mahmood 9.2-0-60-2; Saqlain Mushtaq 10-0-34-1; Salisbury 8-0-44-1; Hollioake 2-0-18-0.
Umpires: N J Llong and G Sharp.
Ireland beat Surrey by 5 wkts.
