Latest news with #DarrenSammy
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Times
Rain halts play in Clontarf as West Indies come charging back
Sod's law dictates that rain was always going to have a say at some point in Ireland's summer calendar. With just nine days of men's international cricket pencilled in between May and September (the women have eight), fans already felt short changed. That the rain ruined any hopes of a result on Friday afternoon in Clontarf and with Sunday's forecast threatening the series finale, all involved are underwhelmed. With such a barren schedule to sell the top level of the sport to the Irish public, Cricket Ireland always ran the risk of rain ruining their already limited product. READ MORE West Indies did manage to bat for 50 overs before the heavens opened. After the visitor's head coach Darren Sammy called their Wednesday performance 'timid', many predicted a response. Still, nobody saw Matthew Forde's record performance coming, equalling 50-over cricket's fastest half-century at 16 balls. Josh Little bore the brunt of the Caribbean onslaught, Forde launching Ireland's left-armer for four maximums in one solitary over. Little went short, Forde went long over the Clontarf scoreboard and into the houses. Liam McCarthy suffered too, his attempted wide yorker ploy leading to a pair of lost balls. Tom Mayes didn't escape punishment either. In a way, the rain was Ireland's friend. They would have needed to break their record chase to haul in the West Indies' total of 352-8. With the odds not in their favour, they probably would have taken a rain-affected draw which leaves the West Indies needing a win on Sunday just to level the three-match series. Yet with the volume of cricket they had this summer, they probably wanted to get out as much as anyone. The good news from Ireland's effort with the ball was McCarthy – before Forde got hold of him. Pegged as a rare bowler with pace who can give Ireland something different in the middle overs, he took three wickets in the thankless part of the game, his first international scalps. West Indies captain Shai Hope nicked one which just left him after starting to look dangerous. Keacy Carty also nicked off after an impressive century. Forde's fun was ended by a searing McCarthy yorker at the death. Barry McCarthy stuck to his good new ball form when finding Brandon King's edge, adding a second later on, while George Dockrell continued his bowling renaissance with another dismissal. Most of this preceded Forde's ludicrous onslaught. Ireland were poor – they either bowled without an apparent plan or an inability to execute when tactics did become clear. Clontarf being a small ground certainly aided Forde's cause, but his display was still one of brutal beauty. The neighbours may well disagree. It's only a shame the West Indies didn't get back out to secure the win his performance deserved.
RTÉ News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Visit of West Indies brings lack of fixtures home to Andrew Balbirnie
Ireland's men's cricketers finally get to have a home series tomorrow as the West Indies rumble into town to play three one-day internationals in Clontarf and three T20 games at Bready, County Tyrone. It has been 10 months since the last home match for Ireland, a one-off Test win over Zimbabwe at Stormont in July, and a year since the three-game series against Pakistan in Clontarf. Outside of the three T20 matches against England at Malahide in September, Ireland's men's side's fixtures are thin on the ground. A mixed-format home series against Afghanistan set for July was cancelled by Cricket Ireland due to financial constraints. The proposed new European T20 league, involving franchise teams from Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland, was also supposed to be played in July but probably won't happen this year. There is now talk that Ireland will play a tri-nations series against those two countries as a fill-in, but nothing has been announced and Ireland's proposed trip to Pakistan in September may not happen now due to the increased political tensions in the region. For 34-year-old Andy Balbirnie, still Ireland's Test captain, but no longer involved in the T20 squad, the upcoming fixtures against the West Indies, comes as a relief to the squad, which is captained by his friend Paul Stirling. "We want to play as much cricket as we can," Balbirnie told RTÉ Sport. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out, it's a pretty barren schedule" "But these games are coming up now, so we've got to make the most of it and make sure that we're ready to go and all our prep is done. And once we get out of the field, we just go out and try to win games. "I think like any team that you play at this level, you expect them (West Indies) to come with some high-quality players. "There are a few names that are there from the last time we played them in Ireland in 2019, players like Shai Hope. "John Campbell has just been brought into the squad and obviously Darren Sammy was a very experienced player himself and is now coach of the West Indies." Balbirnie's former team-mate Kevin O'Brien, who is currently assistant head coach with Italy, has been drafted in by the visitors to give them what they hope will be an insight into how they can beat Ireland. "I have no issue with it at all," insisted Balbirnie. "Kev is on the kind of ladder of his coaching career, and this is a big step for him. "He's still working with Italy and trying to get Italy to a T20 World Cup. They've got qualifiers this summer coming up, which are important for them. And I think he knows Darren Sammy quite well. "They played together a while back, so I think it made sense for all parties involved to have Kev on board. "It'll be interesting to see him in the opposite dugout, I hope it goes really well for him." Does Balbirnie feel a sense of frustration at the lack of matches, especially at home? "I'm currently not involved in the T20's, so my international summer kind of finishes next week. I'll have to find something to do for the summer. Maybe play a few games for my club Pembroke, which would be nice to get back to. "But yeah, when I first came onto the scene as an Irish cricketer, there were quite a lot of fixtures in most of the formats. And as we're getting on and becoming more established as the team, there almost seems to be less. "It's unfortunately just the way it is, and as players we don't have control over that, but there certainly is a bit of frustration. But I don't think it'll hinder our performance or our will to win "There is quite a good young core of players who are getting to the kind of the peak of their career now and, having been there myself, when you're at that stage of your career, you want to show your skills and talent as often as possible against as many teams as possible. "I'm certainly at the back end of my career and I still feel like I'm playing good cricket, and I want to be playing more. "It's what we do day in, day out. We do a lot of stuff in the gym and a lot of stuff in the nets, but there comes a time where you just need to be playing and playing matches against high calibre of players. "We just want more. We're not asking for, you know, loads and loads of fixtures. We're just asking for more regular fixtures to give the guys chances to showcase their ability." Ireland's injury list has grown ahead of the opening game of the West Indies ODI series tomorrow (10.45 in Clontarf) with Craig Young and Curtis Campher both ruled out for the duration. Young sustained a hamstring injury while playing in an Inter-Provincial Cup match for the Northwest Warriors against the Leinster Lightning in Oak Hill and Jordan Neill has been named as his replacement for the ODI series.
BBC News
06-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
England v West Indies: Tourists leave Shimron Hetmyer out of ODI squad
Batter Shimron Hetmyer has been left out of West Indies' one-day international squad to play England and Ireland this month. Left-hander Hetmyer, currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and one of West Indies' most high-profile players, featured in the Windies' 2-1 win over an understrength England last year. He missed a series against Bangladesh that followed through illness and was replaced by 27-year-old Amir Jangoo, who made a debut century in the third match. West Indies play a three-match one-day international series in Ireland from 21-25 May, before matches in England on 29 May, 1 June and 3 June. Three T20s against England follow from 6 June. It will be the first white-ball series for England since Harry Brook was named permanent white-ball captain. There is no place in West Indies' squad for Nicholas Pooran, who has not played an ODI since 2023. The touring party is largely the same as the one that beat England, with batter Shai Hope captain, and Alzarri Joseph, Jayden Seales and Shamar Joseph among the seam bowlers. Former Ireland all-rounder Kevin O'Brien will work with Hope's side during the Ireland leg of the tour. "These matches form a critical component towards the 2027 World Cup and there are signs of the team building consistency following the series sweep against Bangladesh and the win over England late last year," said coach Darren Sammy. "We expect the conditions to be challenging but we are creating a culture and mindset which emphasize playing the brand of cricket that is taking us closer to some of our overall objectives."
