CRICKET:Eoin Morgan rewrote the record books this weekend becoming the first Ireland player in history to score a double hundred in any form of cricket.
The 20-year-old Dubliner ended up unbeaten on 209 as Ireland put the United Arab Emirates to the sword in their crucial ICC Intercontinental Cup match in Abu Dhabi.
By the close of play on day two yesterday, Ireland had reduced the UAE to 222 for nine, still some 309 runs behind Ireland's huge first-innings total of 531 for five declared.
Morgan's innings eclipsed the previous record of 198 not out, which was scored by Ivan Anderson against Canada at Toronto in 1973 and is the latest achievement of the young Middlesex batsmen of whom great things have been predicted since before he became the then youngest Ireland senior international at the tender age of 17.
It wasn't the only record that Morgan broke during the innings. With Andre Botha he put on 360 for the third wicket - another all-time Ireland record for any wicket and also an ICC Intercontinental Cup record. In his short international career to date Morgan has hit three centuries (plus 99 and 94 in ODIs against Scotland and the Netherlands) and now averages 44.87, putting him among the very best.
It was a marvellous innings. On a feather bed of a wicket, Morgan never looked in trouble as he punished any indiscipline in line or length from the UAE bowlers. When this match finishes tomorrow, Morgan will then turn his eye towards the ICC Cricket World Cup in March knowing that he has the opportunity to make his own mark on the highest available stage.
Although Ireland will not win the World Cup, the opportunity is there to make people sit up and take notice and no one is better placed to do that than Morgan.
Moreover, there is no doubt that his employers at Middlesex - not to mention England selectors - will be watching closely.
Let us not forget the contribution of Botha, however. The left-hander has hardly picked up a bat since developing tennis elbow during a recent training tour in South Africa but having gone in at number four, he eventually got out for 157 beautifully crafted runs, his highest score in Ireland colours.
The two of them smacked the hapless UAE bowlers to all parts of the magnificent Sheikh Zayed Stadium and got their side to that impressive total.
However, when captain Trent Johnston declared early yesterday he knew it was not going to be easy to take wickets on such a batsman-friendly track. Ireland need an outright win in this match if they are to qualify to play Canada in the final later this year.
And initially, the Emirates opening batsmen did the business, putting on 75 in quick time for the first wicket before Shadeep Silva was caught by Andy White off the bowling of Boyd Rankin for 25.
After that the wickets fell at regular intervals with Kyle McCallan doing an exceptional job to contain the runs. He finished with figures of one for 48 off 27 overs, including the crucial scalp of wicketkeeper-batsman Gayan Silva.
Botha picked up two wickets, including former captain and vastly experienced campaigner Khurram Khan and only Arshad Ali (74) threatened to save the day for the UAE before he went the way of the others.
With just one wicket in hand, the UAE are still 309 runs behind and 109 short of saving the follow-on.
With a place in the final at stake, defending champions Ireland will be desperate to make sure they do not let the UAE off the hook, particularly on the back of such a disappointing tournament at the ICC World Cricket League in Nairobi last week.
Overnight: Ireland (first innings) 462 for 2, 96 overs (E Morgan 182 not out, A Botha 135 not out, J Bray 82, W Porterfield 46).
DAY TWO
IRELAND (first innings contd)
E Morgan not out..................................... 209
A Botha c Zubair b Bari ............................157
K O'Brien b Khurram.................................... 7
T Johnston c Raza b Khurram ..................... 11
Extras (12lb, 6nb, 1w) .........................19
Total (for 5 dec, 111.2 overs) 531
Fall of wickets: 122, 136, 496, 509, 531
DNB: P Gillespie, K McCallan, A White, D Langford-Smith, B Rankin.
Bowling: Ahmed Nadeem 24-3-92-1, Qasim Zubair 10-1-66-0, Ahmed Raza 17-1-81-0, Waseem Bari 16-0-85-1, Khurram Khan 15.2-0-60-2, Arshad Ali 15-0-73-1, Shadeep Silva 5-0-23-0, Saqib Ali 9-0-39-0.
UAE (first innings)
Shadeep Silva c White b Rankin .................25
Arshad Ali run out ......................................74
Gayan Silva c White b McCallan ................ 13
Saqib Ali b White .......................................26
Khurram Khan b Botha ..............................28
Naeemuddin Asham not out ......................27
Kashif Khan c Langford-Smith b Botha .........9
Ahmed Nadeem run out .............................10
Qasim Zubair c Bray b Johnston ...................0
Waseem Bari c O'Brien b Johnston ...............0
Ahmed Raza not out.................................... 1
Extras (3b, 2lb, 1nb, 3w) ........................9
Total (for 9, 78 overs) 222
Fall of wickets: 75, 98, 136, 164, 176, 186, 198, 199, 207.
Bowling: Langford-Smith 11-1-39-0, Rankin 10-1-34-1, Johnston 17-6-48-2, McCallan 27-11-48-1, White 7-1-34-1, Botha 6-1-14-2.
