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Ireland A chased a remarkable 411 to win and did so with 5 wickets to spare over Gloucester 2nd XI at Lansdown Cricket Club today in Bath.
What a difference three days make! One of the most remarkable matches in three-day cricket history finished with a result that would have been seen as nearly impossible at the end of day one.
Gloucestershire 2nd XI opened their innings on Day 1 and although they initially struggled after the loss of early wickets (33/3) they tore into Ireland’s bowlers and skipper Ed Young scored 172 not out, ably supported by Paul Muchall scoring a fine 84 in a stand of 216 runs. Following the dismissal of Muchall, a young 18 year old, Christian Purchase came to the crease and proceeded to flay the Irish attack to every corner of the ground. He put on a complete display of ball-striking with a range of attacking shots and notched 156 runs off only 82 balls before a Gloucester decided to declare with a total of 494/5 to have some overs at the weary Irish fielders.

Ireland A lost 3 quick wickets before close of play and on the resumption of Day 2 were in trouble and they struggled as they were all out for 230 in 82.3 overs. Gloucestershire could never achieve the same run rate in their second innings as they did in their first but a valuable contribution by skipper Young of 46 runs left them at 146 for 8 wickets by close of play. The hero from Day 1 could not achieve a repeat performance and was dismissed without scoring on his third ball. Ironically one of the batsmen who made a duck in the first innings for Ireland A was about to have a similar reversal in fortunes.

As expected Gloucester’s 2nd innings was declared at the start of play on Day 3, leaving Ireland A with a monumental total of 411 to chase in 96 overs. After a steady stand of 84 in 20 overs the opening partnership of Ackland and Dougherty was broken and this brought Andrew Balbirnie to the crease. He watched the loss of quick wickets giving Gloucestershire a great opportunity for victory. A victory that would be denied by the resolve of Balbirnie and Thompson who changed the game. Unfortunately Stuart Thompson fell 7 runs short of his hundred. Balbirnie continued to score freely and achieved an unbeaten total of 148 not out with able support from Anderson and McCann to bring Ireland A to a magnificent victory with 4 overs to spare in the day’s play

The partnership of 178 between former Ireland Under 19 team-mates Stuart Thompson and Andrew Balbirnie proved the difference as Ireland A managed to turn the tables on the 264 run first innings deficit to overcome Gloucester 2nd XI by 5 wickets.

The final word goes to the centurion Balbirnie who chatted to cricketireland.ie soon after coming off the pitch saying, ‘I always felt that if we could bat all day we could actually win the game, the credit has to go Stuart Thompson and John Anderson who were brilliant to bat with.’ He finished by describing the winning moment, ‘The buzz for the entire team when we won the match was just phenomenal and I can definitely say we’ve experienced the complete highs of lows of cricket throughout the last three days’

Lansdown Cricket Club, Bath 28th, 29th, 30th May

Gloucestershire 2nd XI 494-5 Declared (E Young 172*, C Purchase 156*, J Anderson 1-41, A Britton 1-61)
Ireland A 230 All Out (J Anderson 72, R McCann 54, J Shannon 34, P Muchall 3-37, M Purnell 3-50)
Gloucestershire 2nd XI 146-8 Declared (E Young 46, A Coughlan 4-38, P Eaglestone 2-25)
Ireland A 414-5 (A Balbirnie 148*, S Thompson 93, C Dougherty 45, J Anderson 39, B Ackland 35)

Ireland A Win by 5 Wickets

Photo shows Andrew Balbirnie pictured with Rory McCann who were at the crease together as Ireland A hit the winning runs