The Ireland cricket team is the cricket team representing all of Ireland. Since 2017 they have been a Full Member of the International Cricket Council. Although Cricket in Ireland has had a presence since the early 1800s, it was in 1993 the Irish Cricket Union, the predecessor to Cricket Ireland, was elected to the International Cricket Council (ICC) as an Associate member. In the 1997 ICC Trophy, Ireland narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 1999 Cricket World Cup, which was ironically co hosted by Ireland, Scotland, England and the Netherlands. Ireland qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2007, and has since played in the 2011 and 2015 tournaments, and the 2010, 2012, and 2014 World Twenty20 competitions. Ireland's best world cup performance was in 2007, where they surprisingly qualified for the Super 8 Stages.
Cricket World Cup Record Cricket World Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition 1975Not eligible (not an ICC member) No qualifier held 1979 Did not participate (not an ICC member) 1983 1987 1992 1996Did not qualify 73400 1999 106301 2003 94500 2007Super 88/169261075101 2011Group Stage11/1462400108200 20159/14633001411111 2019 Did not qualify 74300 2023 2981803 2027 TBD Ongoing*Total Super 8 (2007) 3/12 217131093493716
World Cup Record (By Team)
Cricket World Cup matches (By team)Total : 7 Wins – 1 Ties – 13 Losses – 21 games playedAgainstTotalWinsTiesLosses100121012101200211001001210130031001110031022110Source: Last Updated:15 March 2015
Tournament results 2007 World Cup
Squad
Trent Johnston (c) Jeremy Bray Andre Botha Kenneth Carroll Peter Gillespie Dave Langford-Smith John Mooney Paul Mooney Eoin Morgan Kevin O'Brien Niall O'Brien (wk) William Porterfield Boyd Rankin Kyle McCallan Andrew White
Results Group stage (Group D)Super 8SemifinalFinalOverall ResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankOppositionResultOppositionResultTiedW by 3 wickets (D/L)L by 8 wickets (D/L)2L by 48 runsL by 7 wickets (D/L)L by 129 runsL by 9 wicketsW by 74 runsL by 8 wickets8Did not advanceSuper 8 Scorecards
Summary Ireland surprised many in their debut 2007 World Cup campaign. They tied their opener against Zimbabwe and famously defeated the fourth-ranked team in the world Pakistan on Saint Patrick's Day, knocking them out. In their final group match, they lost to West Indies. These results secured a spot in the Super 8s, where they lost four matches but claimed a notable 74-run win over Bangladesh.
Ireland had a great start to their campaign managing a tie against the Test nation of Zimbabwe after Jeremy Bray scored his second One Day International century. After a steady start, two wickets from Elton Chigumbura set them back to 64 for four after 15 overs. Bray carried the bat to 115 not out.
In reply, Zimbabwe made their way to 20 overs with the loss of just one wicket. However, wicket of Chamu Chibhabha and unfortunate hit-wicket of Vusi Sibanda and Brendan Taylor's run-out put Ireland back in driver's seat. After Stuart Matsikenyeri's half-century, they required 15 runs with 36 balls remaining; however, they only got six of those runs off the next 30 balls. Needing 9 runs off the last over they could manage only a couple of singles and doubles, Rainsford was run out attempting the winning run, resulting in a dramatic tie—the third in Cricket World Cup history.
Pakistan were put in to bat, and were bowled out for 132, with extras being the top scorer as Ireland offered 23 wides. Boyd Rankin took the most wickets, which included Younis Khan and top-scorer Kamran Akmal, while Andre Botha took wickets of Inzamam and opener Imran Nazir conceding just 5 runs in 8 overs.
In Ireland's innings, Bray fell early to Mohammad Sami. Ireland fell to 15 for two, but Niall O'Brien and William Porterfield added 37. He was eventually stumped for 72, before Iftikhar Anjum struck twice in two balls, Ireland now needing 20 with three wickets in hand. Kevin O'Brien and Trent Johnston took Ireland home thus eliminating Pakistan.
2011 World Cup
Squad
William Porterfield (c) Andre Botha George Dockrell Ed Joyce Nigel Jones John Mooney Kevin O'Brien Niall O'Brien (wk) Paul Stirling Gary Wilson (wk) Alex Cusack Trent Johnston Andrew White Boyd Rankin Albert van der Merwe
Results Group stage (Group B)SemifinalFinalOverall ResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankOppositionResultOppositionResultL by 27 runs3 by 3 wicketsL by 5 wicketsL by 44 runsL by 131 runsW by 3 wickets8Did not advanceGroup stage Scorecards
Summary Though Ireland did not progress beyond the first round they secured a historic victory against England. Ireland beat England by 3 wickets with Kevin O'Brien hitting the fastest century in World Cup history, managing the feat in just 50 balls. In passing England's total of 327 for victory, Ireland broke the record for the highest successful run chase in the World Cup.
In the match against England, the opposition batted first with Jonathan Trott top-scoring, with 92 from 92 balls. England batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell also hit half-centuries, with Trott and Bell sharing a 177 run partnership. England finished on 327/8 from their 50 overs, having only scored 33 runs from their last 5 overs. In reply, Ireland lost their captain, William Porterfield in the very first ball, and were struggling at 111/5 after 25 overs. Kevin O'Brien came in with the score at 106/4, and made 100 in just 50 balls, the fastest century in World Cup history. Ireland required only 11 from 11 balls. Ireland won the match by 3 wickets, with five balls to spare; it was the largest successful run chase in Cricket World Cup history.
2015 World Cup
Squad
William Porterfield (c) Andrew Balbirnie (vc) Peter Chase Alex Cusack George Dockrell Ed Joyce John Mooney Max Sorensen Kevin O'Brien Niall O'Brien (wk) Paul Stirling Stuart Thompson Gary Wilson (wk) Andy McBrine Craig Young
Note: Max Sorensen replaced Tim Murtagh, who pulled out due to injury.
Results Pool stage (Pool B)QuarterfinalSemifinalFinalOverall ResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultW by 4 wicketsW by 2 wicketsL by 201 runsW by 5 runsL by 8 wicketsL by 7 wickets5Did not advancePool stage Scorecards
Records and statistics
Team records Highest innings totals Score Opponent Venue Season 331/8 (50 overs) Hobart 2015 329/7 (49.1 overs) Bengaluru 2011 307/6 (45.5 overs) Nelson 2015 307/4 (47.4 overs) Kolkata 2011 279/8 (49.2 overs) Brisbane 2015Last updated: 15 March 2015
Most appearances This list consists players with most number of matches at the Cricket World Cup. Niall O'Brien played a total of 21 World Cup matches and William Porterfield has captained the team in the most number of matches(12).
Matches Player Period 21 Niall O'Brien 2007-2015 21 William Porterfield 2007-2015 20 Kevin O'Brien 2007-2015 15 Boyd Rankin 2007-2011 14 John Mooney 2007-2015Last updated: 15 March 2015
Batting statistics Most runs Runs Player 100s 50s Period627 William Porterfield 21 21 107 29.85 1 4 2007–2015620 Niall O'Brien 21 21 79* 32.63 5 2007–2015499 Kevin O'Brien 20 20 113 27.72 1 1 2007–2015422 Ed Joyce 12 12 112 35.16 1 2 2011–2015316 Paul Stirling 12 12 101 26.33 1 1 2011–2015Last updated: 15 March 2015
Highest partnerships Runs Players Opposition Venue Season 177 (1st wicket) Paul Stirling (99) & William Porterfield (68) v Kolkata 2011 162 (6th wicket) Kevin O'Brien (96) & Alex Cusack (47) v Bengaluru 2011 138 (3rd wicket) Ed Joyce (75) & Andrew Balbirnie (59) v Hobart 2015 113 (3rd wicket) Niall O'Brien (46) & William Porterfield (54) v Bengaluru 2011 105 (2nd wicket) Ed Joyce (51) & Paul Stirling (54) v Nelson 2015Last updated: 15 March 2015
Bowling statistics Most wickets Wickets Player Matches 4W 5W Period 16 Trent Johnston 13 31.12 5.31 2/16 0 0 2007–2011 15 Boyd Rankin 15 42.60 5.58 3/32 0 0 2007–2011 14 John Mooney 14 41.42 6.10 4/63 1 0 2007–2015 13 Kevin O'Brien 20 47.92 7.34 4/71 1 0 2007–2015 12 George Dockrell 12 41.25 5.22 3/50 0 0 2011–2015 10 Kyle McCallan 9 23.30 3.97 2/12 0 0 2007–2007Last updated: 15 March 2015
See also Ireland national cricket team Cricket in Ireland
References