Match report Ireland v Northamptonshire C&G 2004

Match report Ireland v Northamptonshire C&G 2004 by Gerry Byrne

Scorecard:

The match was originally scheduled for Saturday 29th. However, at the request of Northants it was deferred for 1 day as they were playing a County Championship match against Sussex in Hove which did not finish until Friday 28th and did not give them enough time to get to Dublin in time for a 10.45 start on 29th. It suited Ireland as were they to win this match the next round was scheduled for the day of the match against West Indies, scheduled for June 16th, and Ireland would have needed to look for a rearrangement of that round.

Ireland made one change from the team that beat Surrey. R.L.Eagleson was injured and was replaced by P.J.K.Mooney, now fit again.

The Northants team included wicket-keeper G.L.Brophy, who had represented Ireland on 3 occasions in 2000. He was entitled to do so as both his parents were Irish and he was therefore entitled to an Irish passport.

This match was in some ways the mirror image of the Surrey game. There Ireland won the toss, inserted Surrey and the latter’s innings was interrupted on a number of occasions. Here Northants won the toss, inserted Ireland and the Irish innings was interrupted on 3 occasions, interruptions totalling 167 minutes. The one difference between the two matches was that the Northants innings was not delayed until the second day and, despite one major interruption in that innings, the match was finished on the one day, albeit not until just under 10 hours from the first ball.

The man of the match award went to Martin Van Jaarsfeld of Northants.

50 Partnerships For Ireland

4th wicket	115	J.P.Bray/P.G.Gillespie 	Record for 4th wicket for Competition and for any wicket v first class county
7th wicket	 60	A.R.White/W.K.McCallan	Record for 4th wicket for Competition.

Against Ireland

1st wicket	 64	T.W.Roberts/J.W.Cook
3rd wicket	 50	M.Van Jaarsfeld/U.Afzaal
4th wicket	 91	M.Van Jaarsfeld/D.J.G.Sales
5th wicket	 52*	M.Van Jaarsfeld/G.P.Swann