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Ireland can look ahead to their 4-Day match against Australia A at Stormont, which starts on June 14th, with confidence after an incredible few days of cricket against Pakistan last week.
Ireland can look ahead to their 4-Day match against Australia A at Stormont, which starts on June 14th, with confidence after an incredible few days of cricket against Pakistan last week. The RSA Insurance ODI Series was a resounding success and showed, once again, that Ireland can cut it with the top teams in the world.
Pakistan squeeze home 1-0 in a thrilling series

The two-match series was won by Pakistan, but only after an incredible 93-run partnership in 10 overs between Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz snatched victory for the visitors. In perhaps the tightest series that has taken place in Ireland, the Boys in Green managed to tie a thrilling first match when Kevin O’Brien hit the last ball for four, capping off his magnificent innings of 84 which he took only 47 balls to score. That was after Paul Stirling hit a blistering century earlier in the innings to give Ireland a great chance at winning.

The tie set the stage for a rip-roaring second match which was played out in front of a sold-out crowd in the sunshine at Clontarf on Sunday. Ed Joyce joined Eoin Morgan in becoming only the second person in cricket history to make an ODI century for two nations when he made 116 not out and helped Ireland to a slightly below-par score of 229.

It looked like Ireland were on course to record another famous victory when they reduced the Pakistanis to 17-4 and then 133-7, but then Akmal and Riaz put on a show that sunk Irish hopes and had the away support jumping with joy.

Every ball live across the world

Cricket Ireland were grateful to ICC for their help in funding the Live Streaming of both matches on YouTube and it proved a huge hit with nearly 300,000 views from more than 140 countries over the two days.

Last day in Dublin after covering a thrilling series between Ireland and Pakistan. 291,000 views. @purdy34 @kevinobrien113 @niallnobiobrien

— CricketAtlas (@CricketAtlas) May 27, 2013

Both Ireland captain William Porterfield and Pakistan captain Misbah Ul Haq spoke about the atmosphere that the sold out crowd brought to the second game – over 5,000 people came through the gates at Clontarf over the two matches. Ireland play England in the RSA Challenge on September 3rd where there will be a capacity of over 10,000 at Malahide Cricket Ground and after the success of the recent series, there has been a spike in sales for Ireland’s battle with the old enemy.

Sell Out Crowd

Cricket Ireland are hopeful of attracting another sell-out crowd for the England game and are asking everyone to buy their tickets in advance to help make the biggest cricket match ever to come to Ireland another sell-out.

The matches had their share of famous followers

#cricketireland Thanks to Ireland & Pakistan for great day at Clontarf- brilliant late fight back by Pakistan makes them worthy winners.

— Bryan Dobson (@bryansixone) May 26, 2013

Test Cricket for Ireland

Neutral spectators have congratulated Ireland on their performances against a cricketing powerhouse, but Ireland were out to win the series against Pakistan and the team were bitterly disappointed with the 1-0 series defeat. Captain William Porterfield said, “We just let it get away from us a bit after the first 12 or 14 overs. If we had taken another wicket around that time things would probably have been different.

“The disappointing thing was how close we came and we just couldn’t close it out, but you have to give credit to Akmal, he played some brilliant shots, found the gaps and did the job for Pakistan.”

Pakistan captain Misbah Ul Haq was impressed by the home team and said after the series, “If you look at Ireland’s batting line-up, that is good enough to do well anywhere. They may struggle a little bit with their bowling line-up when they go out of Ireland but still they are a really mature side.” He spoke about Ireland’s future and has backed Ireland for Test Cricket “That’s purely on the ICC but they are a better team now so the ICC should think about that,”.

One of those batsmen that Ul Haq was speaking about was Kevin O’Brien, who was named as RSA Man of the Series despite Pakistan winning it. For more details, the scores over the two days, all the statistics and the MVP rankings, click here.

Cricket Ireland
Kevin O’Brien was named as Man of the Series
Yes