News

Globetrotting Irish star believes history can be repeated at the opening of the new international ground at Malahide next week.

Kevin O’Brien is hoping to produce more fireworks when he and his Irish colleagues take on England at Malahide next Tuesday in the RSA Challenge One-Day International.

O’Brien famously announced himself to a global audience with the fastest hundred in World Cup history (50 balls) as Ireland pulled off one of the greatest shocks in sporting history – chasing 327 to beat England by three wickets in Bangalore in March 2011.

“There’s no doubt that innings changed my destiny. All of a sudden myself and Irish cricket were on the front as well as the back pages of newspapers and media the world over. It was a defining moment in Irish cricket which changed the perception of the sport here and raised the profile to new heights,” said O’Brien, fresh from his exploits in the Caribbean Premier League.

“I’ve played now in T20 competitions in England, Bangladesh and the West Indies, so it certainly opened up new avenues for me.”

Back now in Dublin at the new international venue, ‘Fortress Malahide’, the 28 year-old wants to create a new chapter in the history of the sport. “We’ve got to keep on winning if we want to achieve Full Member status. We can’t live on past glories – we owe the fans a special performance and another famous win.”

“The ground looks absolutely magnificent. It’s undergone quite a transformation, and there’s going to a brilliant party atmosphere against England with 10,000 fans at the game.

“England have selected quite a number of one-day specialists and some of the younger guys will be looking to make a name for themselves with another series in the winter. There is of course the added edge to the game with Moggie (Eoin Morgan) and big Boyd (Rankin) in their squad. I’m sure there will be a bit of banter flying around!”

The RSA Challenge is now coming very close to a complete sell out, with very final tickets available at www.cricketireland.ie and TicketMaster outlets nationwide www.ticketmaster.ie

The two squads for the RSA Challenge in full are as follows:

Ireland
William Porterfield (captain) (Warwickshire), George Dockrell (Somerset), Trent Johnston (YMCA), Ed Joyce (Sussex), John Mooney (North County), Tim Murtagh (Middlesex), Kevin O’Brien (Railway Union), Niall O’Brien (Leicestershire), Eddie Richardson (North County), Max Sorensen (The Hills), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Andrew White (Instonians), Gary Wilson (Surrey).

England
Eoin Morgan (captain) (Middlesex), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Ravi Bopora (Essex), Danny Briggs (Hampshire), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Jamie Overton (Somerset), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Notts), James Tredwell (Kent), Luke Wright (Sussex).

Cricket Ireland
[211] John Mooney – mooney-john
[346] Kevin O’Brien – obrien-kevin
[350] Max Sorensen – sorensen-max
Yes