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The Irish cricket team is a national in 1888. Their first match with First-class status was played in 1902 against a London County side including W.G. Grace . The Irish won convincingly, by 238 Runs . A Northern Ireland team, effectively the full Irish team under a different name, did play three matches at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia . They beat Bangladesh but lost to South Africa and Barbados , thus not progressing from their group. HISTORY After the 1902 tour of England, where four matches yielded one win, two draws and one loss, the Irish didn't play first-class cricket again for five years (although London County visited again in 1903 and drew. {Link without Title} ). The Irish were soundly beaten on home soil, by Yorkshire and South Africa , suggesting that there was still quite a gap in class. The Irish played yearly first-class games with the Scots with regularity, only interrupted by wars, up until 1999 , but all their other cricket was dictated by whenever touring international sides would find it convenient to visit Ireland. However, they often surprised Test nations in these games, winning by 60 runs in a 3-day game in Dublin over the West Indies in 1928 , for example. They did, in fact, take a liking to the West Indies - their arguably finest cricketing moment came in 1969 , when they defeated a West Indian side including Clive Lloyd and Clyde Walcott (who admittedly was 43 at the time) by nine wickets, after bowling them out for 25. The Scots and the Irish were arguably competing with Sri Lanka for the title as best non-Test nation at the time - indeed, Ireland drew with Sri Lanka in a rain-hit first-class match in 1979 , Ireland scoring a total of 341 for seven wickets in two innings while Sri Lanka made 288 for six wickets in one innings. However, the ICC refused to include them until 1993 , and the following year they competed in the ICC Trophy . However, their good players of the 1960s and 1970s were gone by now, and they lost four of seven games to finish seventh in the tournament. Four years later in Malaysia , they squeezed through to the semi-finals after a good showing in the group stage, but lost by seven runs to Kenya after Justin Benson , who had played County Cricket for Leicestershire , had slowed down proceedings with an 85-ball 35. As Ireland needed 216 Runs from 50 Over s (300 balls) to win, that left the other batsmen to hit very, very quickly, and that was not possible. To compound their misery, they lost the third place play-off with Scotland , thus missing a place at the 1999 Cricket World Cup . The 2001 tournament in Canada showed the batting skills of Ed Joyce , who ended up with A Batting Average of 71.80 in eight innings, including four fifties. Joyce, who had been signed by Middlesex two years earlier, could not save the team from a number of defeats, however. They lost to the USA by six wickets in the first match in Canada, and also lost to Denmark by 12 runs. In the end, the Irish lost five matches, finishing seventh in the tournament. Tournament History World Cup The 2007 Tournament will be the first for Ireland. Intercontinental Cup
ICC 6 Nations Challenge
ICC Trophy
European Championship
CURRENT TEAM The 2005 ICC Trophy , which was hosted in both Irish states - the group stages in Belfast , Northern Ireland , the finals stages in Dublin , Republic Of Ireland - has seen the Irish improve drastically, however. Ed Joyce's four years in County Cricket , where he earlier in 2005 became the first batsman to hit 1,000 runs, gave him the experience to lift the Irish to big totals (he Averaged 106 in four innings for the Irish), and even when he left for County Championship games with Middlesex , they managed to win, taking a four-wicket thriller over Canada thanks to Peter Gillespie , who hit a career highest score in the ICC Trophy with 64 not out - his first fifty - to anchor their chase to 239. Earlier, South African-born Andre Botha had taken four Wickets for 47 runs against. Indeed, their Bowling was often the key in this tournament, but former Essex player Adrian McCoubrey was in fact one of the least penetrative. However, that bowling let them down in the final against Scotland , as they conceded a total of 324 for 9 after electing to bowl first. The return of Joyce did not help them, as he made 81, but the Irish still lost the match by 47 runs. CRICKET IN 2006/07 Ireland have a busy period in their build up to the World Cup. From April, they took part in a newly expanded C&G Trophy , playing nine English county sides. For this tournament, they were bolstered by the signings of Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi , the two overseas players they are allowed when competing in English domestic competitions. Ireland have recorded one win (at Bristol against Gloucestershire ) in three matches so far, losing to Hampshire and Glamorgan . Ireland's first official and the BBC declining to cover the game. {Link without Title} In May, they will start their defence of the Intercontinental Cup, against either Nepal. August will see them participate in Division One of the European Championship, against Denmark , Italy , The Netherlands and Scotland . The games against The Netherlands and Scotland will have ODI status. August will also see them play Scotland in the Intercontinental Cup. January 2007 will see the start of more than 2 months of almost constant cricket. First is a visit to Kenya, were they will take part in Division One of the ICC World Cricket League . This is followed by a triangular series against Kenya and The Netherlands, also in Kenya. They then travel to the United Arab Emirates , where they will play a One-day International against Scotland at Sharjah , followed by an Intercontinental Cup game against the UAE at Abu Dhabi. Their first World Cup will start in March, and they will hope to progress to the next stage, as they will be playing two teams they have beaten in recent years, The West Indies and Zimbabwe . Pakistan are the other team in their group. SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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