Ireland beat England!

[sloandog]

Ireland Little beauties ! I bet Maehara was barracking at the T.V screen
Kevin O brian is a very dangerous cricketer, hard hitter, and useful medium pace bowler to boot.
They'll be a handful for sure if they do progress

[maehara]

I was in work, listening to the radio & driving my colleagues nuts. Just finished watching the highlights and I'm still grinning. Freaking EPIC win - and to be fair, they've had it coming. The two Ireland v England games I've been to at Stormont, Ireland got close but just couldn't get across the line. This is due.

Now. Ireland have beaten four Full Members in ODIs now: England, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Bangladesh got Test status after one win against Pakistan. What the hell more do Ireland need to do? They are not Associate-level, and haven't been for the past 3-4 years. The ICC needs to get off their collective arses and find a way to let them progress to the next level.

As for progressing to the quarter-finals: they still have to play Netherlands, South Africa, West Indies and India. They need to win two of those. The ones they should be planning to beat are Windies and Netherlands - it's not going to be easy for them, but they can do it.

[eugene]

Ireland really should be given put on a roadmap to gaining full membership and should certainly be a full ODI member meaning that they can't be excluded from World Cups. Ireland are clearly stronger than Zimbabwe and are probably level with Bangladesh. They should be rewarded for their success.

[Kriterion_BD]

Ireland really should be given put on a roadmap to gaining full membership and should certainly be a full ODI member meaning that they can't be excluded from World Cups. Ireland are clearly stronger than Zimbabwe and are probably level with Bangladesh. They should be rewarded for their success.

agreed (except the bit about Bangladesh ).

the world could use 12 test nations...I think Afghanistan are right up there as well. Remember that Afghanistan has won a couple of ODIs against Ireland, if memory serves me correctly. And since its Tests we're talking about, how can anyone forget that Afghanistan successfully chased 500 in the 4th innings of a CC match recently against the Irish. no matter how flat the wicket, thats an achievement. and now Ireland beat England and did it in unprecedented style.

the world cup really needs to be 12 teams, and all of them should be playing tests. of course Ireland will struggle, every test side from South Africa to Bangladesh struggled in their early years - i don't consider India or New Zealand drawing matches while being 300 runs behind in the 1950s as a marker of some sort of non-existant "competitiveness". but if bangladesh can start looking like they belong 9 years later, then why can't Ireland or Afghanistan? they certainly won't get any better sitting on the sidelines pummeling the likes of Kenya or Canada.

[eugene]

I guess the main problem for Afghanistan is the political instability of the region. We already have the Pakistan problem, Afghanistan is much worse.

[sloandog]

Ireland are clearly stronger than Zimbabwe

Well hang on a minute mate, are they...
I mean we've played them recently in that ODI series and we beat them 2-1.
Out of the three games played, we proved the better side. Now I'm not knocking Ireland, because they deffinetly deserve to play test cricket, and the players they have both in the team and back home are so talented, but I still honestly think that Zimbabwe are a better cricket team

[maehara]

Talk of a series later this year (ODIs and an unofficial Test), if it goes ahead we'll soon find out who's best.

When was the last time we beat England or Pakistan again?

[eugene]

Ireland chased down a score of over 300 in an ODI at the World Cup against a full-member nation. I just can't envisage Zimbabwe achieving that.

[sloandog]

When was the last time we beat England or Pakistan again?

When was the last time Zimbabwe played England or Pakistan...

[maehara]

When was the last time Zimbabwe played England or Pakistan...

Pakistan: 2008 (ODI series in Pakistan - 5-0 Pakistan)
England: 2007 (World T20 - England win)