Ireland makes history

Well not many of them would have noticed with me as well despite my experiences with the cricketing world since my blog took off last year. Yesterday, Ireland beat Netherlands after chasing down a mammoth total of 306 set by Netherlands which was a rather tough task for Ireland to accomplish considering its standards in international cricket. A win against Holland is a celebration indeed for Ireland and if their win against England is considered, this goes dull in front of what they have achieved. But, nevertheless, the win over Holland was enough to see the Irish in the record books.

No need to worry for, the Irish have made it to the record books for the right reasons when yesterday they not only recorded the 2^nd 300+ successful run chase but are also the only team in the history of a world cup to have done so. Teams like England and Sri Lanka have managed it once against West Indies and Zimbabwe respectively. In fact, no team has ever managed to get past 300 runs batting 2^nd let alone winning. But, Ireland have done it in a single edition first by chasing down 326 against England earlier in the tournament and yesterday against Holland when they overtook 306.

Sri Lanka as a matter of fact were the first team to have successfully chased own a 300+ total when they overtook 312 runs set by Zimbabwe in the 1992 world cup. This record stood for as long as 19 years with 5 world cups played in between. Then, England surpassed 301 runs set by West Indies in the super eights stage of the 2007 world cup which was England's only win worth mentioning in that world cup. But, that also meant that England became the 2^nd team to have successfully chased down 300+ total. Now, Ireland have made news for two glorious records.

One for being the team to have recorded the highest successful run chase in world cups when they surpassed the 326 run target set by England at Bangalore and the other record for being the only team to have successfully chased down a 300+ target twice. Likewise only 3 teams have managed to go past 300 batting second in world cups. As time moves, there might be more teams entering into this record. But, still Ireland will be the team to have accomplished the feat for the 1st time. And for the record to be achieved by a non-test playing team is a greater reward.