Canada went into the second day of their Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland after being comprehensively outplayed on the first day. Ireland resumed with a 70 run lead and 6 wickets in hand, and Canada needed something special to make a match of it. They had an excellent day up to the last 90 minutes, when much good work was undone by a batting collapse that left them on the verge of defeat with two days still remaining. An impressive spell of bowling by Henry Osinde restricted Ireland’s lead to 141. Canada’s 2nd innings effort was more successful than their first as Gunasekera (47) and Surkari (72) erased the deficit for the loss of just one wicket. The end of their partnership marked the start of a trade-mark Canadian middle order collapse, losing six wickets for 37 runs. At the close, the lead was just 49, with only two wickets remaining.
Osinde and Chohan opened the bowling, and Ireland were restricted to a solitary run from the first five overs. White once settled in opened up and three consecutive fours off Chohan brought him to his half century. He took two more boundaries of Chohan’s next over, and Canada very much needed the breakthrough Osinde provided when he had Dockerell caught behind, and in the next over bowled Mooney – 232/6. Osinde was bowling with aggression, and hit Johnston with a short delivery, cutting him over the eye and forcing him to retire hurt, and then had van der Merwe caught at slip. He continued his impressive spell when he had the dangerous White (84) caught at deep square leg hooking another short one- his fifth wicket. Bhatti took the 9th wicket, and with Johnston unable to bat, Ireland had a lead of 141. Osinde finished with 5/58. Dropped catches did not helped Canada’s cause with at least five being put down in the Irish innings.
The young opening pairing of Kumar and Gunasekera was more successful this time, Gunasekera surviving a chance but Kumar hit four good boundaries as Canada advanced to 30/0. Eaglestone then induced an edge from Kumar, and he was caught at second slip for 20. With both Gunasekera and Surkari playing cautiously, the fifty came up in the nineteenth over. Gunasekera greeted the introduction of Dockerell into the attack with a slog-sweep for six, and a lost ball. At tea, Canada were 85/1. Gunasekera after patiently facing 111 balls was unfortunate to play on for 47 after the partnership had reached 96, and Surkari (72) seemed on course for a century when he was bowled by Botha. The Canadian lead was just 29 when the next wicket fell – Dhaniram lbw for 6. Disaster followed as three wickets fell in eight balls- Tariq for a duck, Cheema for one and Dean second ball. Bhatti followed two overs later and 136/1 had rapidly become 188/8.
Eddie Norfolk reports:-
Two successful phases for Canada, but Ireland seem set for the win
Close of play scores: September 1, 2010 (second of four scheduled days):
Canada 120 all out (32 overs; Zubin Surkari 28, Trent Johnston 5 wickets for 23 runs) and 190 for 8 wkts (62 overs: Zubin Surkari 72, Ruvindu Gunasekera 47, Kevin O’Brien 3 wickets for 19, Andre Botha 3 wickets for 25)
Ireland 261 all out (72 overs; Allan White 84, Kevin O’Brien 57, Paul Stirling 45, Henry Osinde 5 wickets for 68 runs)
Canada leads by 49 runs with two second innings wickets standing
Ireland take 6 points for 1st innings lead.
Canada had two successful phases on the second day of the ICC Intercontinental Cup game against Ireland, but by close of play, Canada lead by only 49 runs with just two second innings wickets standing. Captain Ashish Bagai was 28 not out when play ended.
The two successful phases included pace-bowler Henry Osinde taking four wickets to bring Ireland’s first innings to a close on 261 all out, and a second wicket stand of 106 between Ruvindu Gunaskera and Zubin Surkari. The start of the Canadian second innings was much better than the batting on the opening morning, but the wheels wobbled loose as the day drew to a close.
Andre Botha ended the day with 3 wickets for 25 runs. This included bowling both Gunasekera, who made 47, with Canada on 136 and Surkari, who made 72 with the total on 151. Kevin O’Brien then accounted for Sunil Dhaniram, leg-before for 6, had Rizwan Cheema caught for just 1, and then saw Abzal Dean caught at the wicket for a duck. Thus, O’Brien made a great impact in the day’s closing overs with 3 wickets for 19 in 8 overs.
Surkari and Gunasekera had virtually removed the Irish first innings with just one wicket down. But virtualy and reality are different. Gunaskera had been going well, but began to be concerned about spectators around the sightscreen, for whatever reason. Perhaps he was beginning to try almost too hard as Canada seemed back in the match. He ended by dragging the ball back onto his stumps after a stay of 112 balls that included 3 fours and a six. Still, he is young and this knock showed promise after a disappointing early dismissal in the first innings.
Zubin Surkari played a lot of good strokes, some of which produced no runs, but that is part of the game. The fielders were in the right positions and mostly did their jobs properly. Various cover drives reached the boundary, others went to the cover fielders, one or two took a bit of a bounce on the outfield and produced the odd bonus run. His innings of 72 included 11 boundaries and lasted 110 balls.
Ireland captain Trent Johnston had to go for some stitches after retiring hurt in the Irish innings and did not appear in the field during Canada’s second innings.
It was certainly hot in ‘the Great White North’ on Wednesday at the Toronto Cricket Club.
CricInfo scorecard – CricketEurope coverage