The way the matches have been going in the Ireland T20I Tri-series so far, it’s a shame the opening game between Ireland and Netherlands got washed out, cause the three matches held after that at Malahide have been nothing short of exhilarating to say the least. A total of 1,197 runs have been scored by all the three nations (Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands) in the three games so far, with each nation registering a win against each other so far.
With two games remaning in the tournament, it’s all to play for as both Ireland and Netherlands play against Scotland in them, and the team finishing at the top of the points table at the end of the double round-robin group stage format will be adjudged the winner of the Tri-series. The tournament was arranged in a short notice after the originally scheduled Euro T20 Slam was postponed to a 2020 start date. The players from all the three nations needed much required match-time to prepare before the Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Oct/Nov in UAE.
George Munsey’s monster knock against Netherlands was the 4th fastest T20I century (41 deliveries) in all T20I history till date, behind South Africa’s David Miller, India’s Rohit Sharma and Czech Republic’s Sudesh Wickramasekara (all hit their 100’s in 35 deliveries) and Romania’s Sivakumar Periyalwar (39 deliveries). Scotland’s total against Netherlands was the 5th highest team T20I total ever made.
Ireland’s next-gen players in Harry Tector and Gareth Delany have impressed in both their outings so far, which bodes well for their longer term plans when the CWC Super League starts off in 2020. For Netherlands, the experienced county specialist’s are not part of the squad for this Tri-series, but will link-up with the squad during the 5-nation T20I tournament in Oman at the begining of October.
Brief Scores
Scotland 252/3 in 20 overs (George Munsey 127 n.o, Kyle Coetzer 89, Richie Berrington 22, Shane Snater 3/42) beat Netherlands 194/7 in 20 overs (Pieter Seelaar 96 n.o, Scott Edwards 37, Bas de Leede 19, Alasdair Evans 2/19, Adrian Neill 2/33, Richie Berrington 1/14) by 58 runs
Scotland 193/7 in 20 overs (Calum MacLeod 72, George Munsey 34, Ollie Hairs 26, Richie Berrington 20, Boyd Rankin 3/29, Gareth Delany 2/31, David Delany 1/40) lost to Ireland 194/6 in 17.4 overs (Andrew Balbirnie 64, Gareth Delany 52, Harry Tector 21, Mark Watt 3/38, Richie Berrington 1/21, Alasdair Evans 1/37) by 4 wickets
Ireland 181/7 in 20 overs (Harry Tector 60, Andrew Balbirnie 45, Kevin O’Brien 30, Brandon Glover 2/19, Shane Snater 2/41, Pieter Seelaar 1/27, Philippe Boissevain 1/33) lost to Netherlands 183/4 in 19.1 overs (Ben Cooper 91 n.o, Maxwell O’Dowd 69, George Dockrell 3/23, Mark Adair 1/13) by 6 wickets
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