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Veja os principais destaques do Vaivém neste sábado.
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England’s openers delivered a lesson in old-fashioned Test-match batting after their bowlers had dismissed India for 316 at Eden Gardens
The Report by Siddarth Ravindran06-Dec-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Alastair Cook scored his 23rd Test hundred, a record for England•BCCI
Last week, England trounced India on the sort of raging turner MS Dhoni has routinely demanded this season. This week, on the sort of flat track at Eden Gardens where India’s batsmen have thrived in the past few years, England delivered a lesson in old-fashioned Test-match batting. The vast opening stand built on the advantage provided by the immaculate bowling on the first day, and by stumps England were at 216 for 1, just 100 behind, and India were looking as flat as the pitch.The records continued to tumble for Alastair Cook. He now has the most Test centuries for an England batsman, became the youngest batsman to 7000 Test runs, and has five hundreds in five Tests as captain. He also has the most runs by an England captain on an India tour, breaking the 51-year record set by Ted Dexter, who was honoured by the Cricket Association of Bengal at the start of this Test.Cook was helped by a surface that offered little to the bowlers, a lightning outfield, and by what could prove one of the costliest mistakes of the series – Cheteshwar Pujara, fielding at first slip instead of his usual short leg, had a low chance from Cook but perhaps hindered by the shin pads he had on, couldn’t get down in time to clasp it. Cook was on 17 at that stage, and had survived a probing spell from India’s quick bowlers.After that, though, Cook was rarely under pressure. The effortless punches through cover made an appearance, the more powerful cuts were deployed against wide deliveries, and the spinners were attacked early on. In his 151st Test innings, Cook hit only his ninth six, launching R Ashwin, who was again unable to maintain a consistent line and length, over long-on. The sweep was used effectively against the spinners, quick singles were taken, and after a couple of hours of getting properly set, the scoring picked up in the last half hour before tea.Despite the volume of runs he has made, Cook hasn’t made a name as a quick run-getter in Tests, but he scored almost twice as much as his batting partner Nick Compton in their 165-run stand. The dawdling strike-rate didn’t bother Compton, who watchfully played out everything thrown at him by the India attack. It was only after he was well set that he brought out some of his strokes, including a down-the-track swipe over Pragyan Ojha’s head for six.With Cook seamlessly taking over the captaincy, and Compton already putting on two 100-plus partnerships for the first wicket, Andrew Strauss has not been missed. Compton brought up his maiden Test half-century with a controlled hook off Ishant Sharma, and with England in command, the only energetic Indians were the ones in the stands entertaining themselves with a series of Mexican waves.India had been tight with the new ball, hardly giving away anything loose. But as the ball lost its shine, the attack also began to fade. The spinners dropped it short or strayed on leg stump far too often, and the England batsmen regularly took a run after pushing the ball straight to a fielder who was supposed to cut off the single.Cook cruised to his 23rd Test century, with a paddle-sweep, and Compton also showed his confidence with a field-bisecting on-drive for four to move to 57. The next ball, though, he was adjudged lbw though he seemed to have gloved Ojha while attempting a paddle-sweep. There was no respite for India yet, as Cook continued to find the boundary regularly, and Jonathan Trott coolly moved to an unbeaten 21 as he searched for his first big score of the series.James Anderson had shown his reverse-swing mastery on the first day, and though India also got the old ball to swerve around a bit, the settled England batsmen weren’t troubled by it much. Zaheer Khan’s strike-rate for the year ballooned towards 100 (career strike-rate 59.2) and Ishant Sharma, playing his first Test since the Adelaide Test in January, was wicketless again, and his strike-rate this year is now an astonishing 208.The pair didn’t make too much of an impact with the bat either, in the morning. Zaheer, for a change, didn’t get out attempting a slog, falling lbw while playing down the wrong line while trying to defend Panesar. It was Ishant, generally seen as a sensible tailender, who was dismissed after failing to get the bat down in time following an uncharacteristically high backlift.It was left to No. 11 Prgayan Ojha to provide MS Dhoni company, as he added a half-century to his prolific run at Eden Gardens. India were bowled out for 316, at least 100 short of what was considered a good total on a flat track. With Cook still hungry for more, and England’s more aggressive batsmen yet to get their chance here, India face another tough day in the field on Friday.
ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the one-off ODI between Afghanistan and Australia in Sharjah
The Preview by Brydon Coverdale25-Aug-2012Match factsThis will be the first match of any format between Australia and Afghanistan•UAE Cricket BoardAugust 25-26, 2012
Start time 1800 (1400 GMT)
Big PictureTen years ago, the idea of a one-day international between Australia and Afghanistan seemed about as plausible as playing cricket on the moon. But Afghanistan’s cricket progress has been one of the most remarkable success stories in the game’s recent history and now they have a chance to play Australia for the first time. The one-off match will be Afghanistan’s second ODI against an ICC full member and Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland said when he announced the fixture last month that he hoped it would help the development of the Afghanistan team.”Everyone in world cricket have been really impressed with how cricket has flourished in Afghanistan, despite its pressing national problems,” Sutherland said at the time. “As an ICC member, CA strongly supports world cricket’s ambition for cricket to continue to develop as a global sport and that, combined with the strong relationships between our two countries, encouraged us to look at how we might recognise and encourage Afghanistan by playing them on the field.”Australia are expected to win the match but their captain Michael Clarke was careful not to underestimate Afghanistan before the game, noting that they would be more familiar with the conditions, whereas Australia have just come from a tour of England and a cold winter back home. The Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal said the match would be “a huge moment” for all of his players.There is another reason this fixture is significant: it is rare, if not unprecedented, for a one-day international to be played across two days. The extreme heat in the UAE forced a rethink of the playing times for a 50-over contest and to avoid the worst of the sun, it was decided that Australia’s ODIs against Afghanistan and Pakistan would start at 6pm and would be scheduled to finish at 1.45am. It is not so much day-night cricket as night-morning cricket.Form guide (Complete matches, most recent first)Afghanistan LWLLW
Australia LLLLWWatch out forThe legspinner Samiullah Shenwari is Afghanistan’s leading wicket taker in one-day internationals, with 27 victims at 26.66. He also doesn’t mind the conditions in Sharjah, where he has played five of his 22 ODIs, and where he picked up his best figures of 4 for 31 against Canada. The Australians will be a stiffer challenge, but on a pitch expected to offer some turn he could prove a tricky customer.Glenn Maxwell will become Australia’s 196th one-day international player and the sixth man to debut for them in the format this year. In 2010-11, he broke the record for the fastest half-century in Australian domestic one-day history, with a 19-ball effort for Victoria, and he will provide some strikepower in the lower middle order. He is athletic in the field and will enjoy bowling on the turning Sharjah surface.Team newsAfghanistan have named a 15-man squad, with their captain Nawroz Mangal back in the mix after he missed their most recent matches in Ireland in July.Afghanistan (possible) 1 Karim Sadiq, 2 Javed Ahmadi, 3 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 4 Nawroz Mangal (capt), 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Asghar Stanikzai, 8 Samiullah Shenwari, 9 Gulbodin Naib, 10 Dawlat Zadran, 11 Shapoor ZadranAustralia have named their starting XI ahead of time. Maxwell will make his international debut and Clarke has promoted himself to No.3. The four players to miss out from within the squad were Callum Ferguson, Daniel Christian, Steven Smith and Alister McDermott.Australia 1 Matthew Wade (wk), 2 Dave Warner, 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 George Bailey, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 James Pattinson, 11 Xavier DohertyPitch and conditions”The wicket looks quite hard, there’s no grass on it at all,” Clarke said on the day before the match. “I think as the game goes on there’ll probably be a bit more spin throughout the game.”The weather can be summed up in one word: scorching. Even late at night the temperature is not expected to dip below 34C.Stats and trivia This is Afghanistan’s second ODI against a full member of the ICC; they lost their first by seven wickets to Pakistan in Sharjah in February Although most of their games have been against fellow associate members, Afghanistan have an impressive ODI record, having won 12 of the 22 matches they have played The No.3 position has been a problem for Australia in ODIs recently; in the past year they have used six batsmen there for a combined average of 21.13
Quotes”This will be a huge moment for every single one of us, playing against the mighty Australians.”
“They’ve played a lot of cricket over the last couple of weeks in preparation for the T20 World Cup. It’s an opportunity for them to come out with nothing to lose and plenty to gain.”
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A partida deste domingo entre Botafogo e América-MG chegou a sofrer duas alterações de horário. Primeiramente passou das 11 horas para as 19 horas; depois, a pedido da diretoria do Alvinegro, voltou para a manhã. A crença é de que o público pode vir a ser maior, e apoiar o time. Mas a verdade é que jogar nessas circunstâncias nunca deu sorte ao Glorioso.
O tal horário de 11 horas aos domingos foi aplicado pela CBF a partir de 2015, e o Botafogo vem atuando nestes horários desde a Série B daquele ano. E jamais venceu. Ao contrário: coleciona decepções, como o empate sofrido no último lance do duelo contra o Paraná, há pouco mais de um mês, na estreia de Zé Ricardo.
No caso desta partida, foram dois pontos deixados no caminho, assim como em outras ocasiões. Mais do que os giros do ponteiro do relógio, para Rodrigo Lindoso a atenção e a concentração precisam ser mantidos sempre.
– A gente sabe que em dois ou três jogos levamos gols no finalzinho. Tivemos Bahia, Paraná e o gol anulado contra o Santos. Algo a mais eu dou sempre. O foco é em a bola entrar no gol – lindoso
Desde o primeiro jogo da série (a derrota por 3 a 2 para o Paysandu, no Nilton Santos), houve diferentes cenários nas partidas do Alvinegro realizadas até agora às 11 horas, mas nunca a vitória foi tão necessária. A crise técnica e nas relações clube-torcida são cada vez mais evidentes e graves.
Os jogos:
Botafogo 2 x 3 Paysandu
Em 23 de agosto de 2015, Yago Pikachu, hoje no Vasco, comandou o triunfo do Papão no Estádio Nilton Santos, na partida pela Série B do Campeonato Brasileiro.
Botafogo 0 x 1 São Paulo
Em5 de maio de 2016, um gol de Lucas Fernandes, de falta, com falha de Helton Leite, resultou em derrota alvinegra para os reservas do São Paulo, no Raulino de Oliveira.
Santos 3 x 0 Botafogo
No dia 5 de junho de 2016, o Santos passou por cima do Botafogo sem dificuldades, em jogo no Pacaembu.
Botafogo 1 x 1 Vitória
Em 12 de junho de 2016, o Glorioso vencia o time baiano, também em Volta Redonda, até os acréscimos do segundo tempo, mas cedeu o empate.
Flamengo 0 x 0 Botafogo
No dia 4 de junho do ano passado, o Rubro-Negro era o mandante do empate sem gols, novamente no Raulino de Oliveira.
Botafogo 2 x 2 Coritiba
No Nilton Santos, o Glorioso sofreu com Rildo e Henrique Almeida, além dos desfalques que tinha. E não passou de um empate com o time que acabaria rebaixado na competição.
Paraná 1 x 1 Botafogo
Em 12 de agosto deste ano, na estreia de Zé Ricardo pelo Glorioso, o Alvinegro vencia até o último lance do jogo, quando cedeu o empate no Durival Britto.
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وصف ناصر الهويدي، رئيس نادي الباطن، ما حدث في مباراة فريقه أمام النصر في منافسات الدوري السعودي بالمهزلة، بسبب أخطاء حكم اللقاء.
الباطن واجه النصر، مساء أمس الجمعة، في إطار الجولة الـ 19 من عمر دوري روشن السعودي، وحسمها النصر في الدقائق الأخيرة بثلاثة أهداف مقابل هدف.
طالع | فيديو | بريمونتادا مثيرة.. النصر يفوز على الباطن بثلاثية في الدوري السعودي
ووفقًا لصحيفة “الرياضية” السعودية، الهويدي قال في تصريحات عقب المباراة: “ما حدث مهزلة، ولعبنا شوطا ثالثًا، ولو لم يسجل النصر، لربما أضاف مزيدًا من الوقت، قد يصل إلى 17 دقيقة”.
وأضاف:” هذا الحكم أدى الدور المطلوب منه في المباراة، وأنتم تعرفون ما أقصده هنا، كان يجب أن يفوز النصر وهذا ما حدث”.
وتابع: “فريقنا يقدم مستويات مميزة الفترة الأخيرة، ومدربنا سيستمر معنا بعد الأداء الجيد، خاصة أمام النصر حيث كنا نستحق الفوز والنتيجة بأكملها في المباراة التي احتسب فيها هدفان للنصر غير صحيحين، حتى هدفنا توقف لمشاهدة الفيديو رغم أنه واضح وسليم”.
وأتم تصريحاته ساخراً: “أرشح سامي الجريس حكم المباراة، لقيادة مباريات كأس العالم بناء على قدراته الهائلة التي أظهرها في المباراة”.
ويتصدر النصر جدول ترتيب دوري روشن برصيد 46 نقطة، بينما الباطن يحتل المركز السادس عشر والأخير برصيد 6 نقاط.
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Depois da “novela chinesa” que tomou a primeira metade do mês de julho, Dudu volta a jogar pelo Palmeiras neste domingo. Suspenso contra o Santos, ele deve ser titular às 16h, quando o Verdão recebe o Atlético-MG no Allianz Parque, estádio em que o atacante detém os principais recordes.
Nos últimos treinos, o camisa 7 apareceu sorridente, brincando com outros atletas, mas antes disso ficou bastante balançado com a ofensiva do Shandong Luneng (CHN). O clube chinês lhe ofereceu contrato de quatro anos, salários de mais de R$ 2 milhões por mês e luvas de R$ 30 milhões.
O Palmeiras não quis negociá-lo, e recusou a proposta de 15 milhões de euros (R$ 67 milhões). No fim, acabou vendendo Róger Guedes à equipe asiática.
Mesmo que hoje não tenha o mesmo rendimento que o tornou ídolo, Dudu é considerado peça-chave no esquema de Roger Machado, especialmente com a saída de Keno. Por isso, a diretoria fez valer o acordo de quando lhe deu um aumento em março, de não tratar de uma venda até o fim desta temporada.
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Nas redes sociais, o atacante deu a entender o incômodo pela recusa do Verdão, ao dizer que seguia “feliz ou não” – ele mudou a postagem minutos depois. Roger Machado antes do jogo contra o Santos minimizou a atitude e aposta que o comandado continuará se doando em “110%”.
Também com a volta de Moisés no lugar de Lucas Lima, suspenso, é possível que Roger use nesta tarde o esquema que treinou durante a pausa para a Copa do Mundo, com três volantes, dando mais liberdade justamente a Dudu.
Com dois títulos conquistados no Allianz Parque (a Copa do Brasil de 2015 e o Brasileiro de 2016), o camisa 7 é o dono das seguintes marcas na arena: é quem mais jogou (86 vezes), quem mais venceu (61 triunfos), o artilheiro (24 gols) e quem deu mais assistências (21). Quando saiu gol dele no novo Palestra Itália, o Palmeiras não perdeu.
Mohsin Khan, the Pakistan chief selector, has said picking a young team for the Zimbabwe series will help in planning for the contest against Sri Lanka in the UAE next month.Mohsin had been criticised for selecting an inexperienced side to tour Zimbabwe – in the only Test, of their three fast bowlers two were debutants and the other had played only one match – but Pakistan ended up winning the Test and sweeping the one-dayers.”As a whole, the team performance is very satisfactory and even though Zimbabwe was not a weak opposition, our boys played well and won every game,” Mohsin told the on Thursday. The tour ends with two Twenty20 matches, one on Friday and the other on Sunday.Several of the new players picked and those recalled for the series, such as fast bowler Aizaz Cheema and opening batsman Imran Farhat, have performed reasonably well. “This tour of Zimbabwe will help us a lot in putting together a solid combination for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, which is one of the best teams in the world,” Mohsin said. However, the final call on the squad for the UAE will be made with the region’s playing conditions in mind. “Since the Sri Lankan series will be played in the UAE where the conditions are different, we will make the combination accordingly.”Pakistan face Sri Lanka in three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 in a series that starts on October 18.
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O São Paulo de Diego Aguirre está sem perder há 11 jogos, uma sequência que não ocorria no clube há mais de seis anos. A última vez que o time ficou tanto tempo invicto foi entre fevereiro e abril de 2012, sob o comando de Emerson Leão, quando completou 14 partidas sem ser batido.
O grupo atual não é derrotado desde que levou 2 a 1 do Atlético-PR, no duelo de ida da quarta fase da Copa do Brasil, em Curitiba, em 4 de abril. De lá para cá, foram cinco vitórias e seis empates, acumulando um período de invencibilidade que terá, ao menos, 59 dias, completados neste sábado, quando o Tricolor encara o Palmeiras, no Allianz Parque.
Na comparação com os números de seis anos atrás, o time de Leão, além de ter alcançado mais tempo invicto por enquanto (14 jogos), foi mais positivo, acumulando 12 vitórias, sendo que 11 ocorreram de forma consecutiva – recorde de triunfos seguidos do clube em sua história. Além disso, no fim daquela temporada, já com Ney Franco na vaga de Leão, o São Paulo conquistou a Copa Sul-Americana, seu único título na década.
Aguirre, por sua vez, chegou a minimizar essa invencibilidade porque há um número grande de empates. Um deles, inclusive, causou a eliminação na Copa do Brasil: diante do Atlético-PR, em 19 de abril, chegou a estar vencendo por 2 a 0 no Morumbi, mas cedeu o empate por 2 a 2 e, como perdeu na ida, ficou fora da competição.
Mas o time evoluiu nos últimos jogos. Venceu o Rosario Central por 1 a 0, em 9 de maio, no Morumbi, para avançar na Copa Sul-Americana, e ganhou as últimas três partidas do Campeonato Brasileiro, inclusive alcançando seu primeiro triunfo como visitante com Aguirre (3 a 1 sobre o América-MG, no domingo). Após oito rodadas, é o único invicto no Brasileiro e aparece em segundo lugar, com 16 pontos, um abaixo do líder Flamengo.
Para superar a invencibilidade de Emerson Leão em 2012, o treinador uruguaio não pode mais perder até a Copa do Mundo. As quatro partidas que restam ao Tricolor antes da parada do Brasileiro durante o Mundial são contra Palmeiras (sábado, no Allianz Parque), Inter (terça-feira, no Morumbi), Atlético-PR (dia 9, em Curitiba), e Vitória (dia 12, dentro de casa).
Confira abaixo a atual sequência invicta do São Paulo de Aguirre:
12.04.18 Rosario Central 0 x 0 São Paulo
16.04.18São Paulo 1 x 0Paraná
19.04.18São Paulo 2 x 2Atlético-PR
22.04.18 Ceará 0 x 0São Paulo
29.04.18Fluminense 1 x 1São Paulo
05.05.18São Paulo 2 x 2Atlético-MG
09.05.18São Paulo 1 x 0Rosario Central
13.05.18Bahia2 x 2São Paulo
20.05.18São Paulo 1 x 0Santos
27.05.18América-MG 1 x 3 São Paulo
30.05.18 São Paulo 3 x 2 Botafogo
Veja a sequência invicta de 14 jogos do São Paulo de Leão em 2012:
16.02.12São Paulo 3 x 1Paulista
22.02.12Bragantino 3 x 3São Paulo
26.02.12Palmeiras 3 x 3São Paulo
01.03.12São Paulo3 x 0Guaratinguetá
04.03.12XV de Piracicaba 0 x 1 São Paulo
07.03.12Independente de Tucuruí 0 x 1São Paulo
11.03.12São Paulo2 x 1Portuguesa
14.03.12São Paulo4 x 0Independente de Tucuruí
18.03.12São Paulo3 x 2Santos
25.03.12Mirassol 0 X1São Paulo
29.03.12São Paulo2 x 0Catanduvense
01.04.12Ituano 2 X 4 São Paulo
07.04.12São Paulo2 x 0Mogi Mirim
11.04.12Bahia de Feira de Santana 2 X 5 São Paulo
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Has Cameron White simply become scared to hit the ball? That is the question running through the minds of Australia’s new captain Michael Clarke, chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch and coach Tim Nielsen as they decide whether to persist with White for the remainder of the limited-overs series against Bangladesh.An integral part of Australia’s limited overs set-up for the past two years and the national Twenty20 captain, White’s sharply diminishing stocks were summed up by a labourious 20 that soaked up 50 balls in the first match against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Saturday. His torture ended with an unconvincing punch over the top that found a fielder in the deep, and watching from the sidelines, Nielsen was convinced that White has to swing harder.”There was a maiden over before he got out and he faced the first two balls of that over, and then tried to work the ball over the top. Honestly I’d prefer to see him try to hit it for six if he’s going to hit it in the air, rather than try to just work it over the top,” said Nielsen. “In the end the return for the shot he was going to play was one or two runs, and increased the risk.”He’s just going through a patch where everything he does doesn’t work for him. If he does get to 20 again or 30 he needs to really cash in and get to 50, 60 or 70, a real confidence-building innings under his belt.”Nielsen said White is being encouraged to hit the ball hard, as he had done quite successfully in the 18 months leading up to the 2010-11 season, as well as to rotate the strike more often than he has managed lately. “The big difference for Cameron over his last six or eight hits is that he hasn’t batted deep enough to really attack the bowlers late in the innings,” he said. “So he’s got to keep trusting himself. We’re talking about him keeping his intent up to hit the ball hard or firmly down the ground from the start and look to rotate the strike.”Callum Ferguson is pushing White for a spot in the XI, having used a less spectacular but arguably more efficient method to average 44.00 at a strike rate of 85.60 in 28 matches, against White’s 35.12 at 80.48 in 87. Tellingly, Ferguson has done it without hitting a six, speaking volumes for his ability to work the ball around.”His numbers really stack up well,” Nielsen said of Ferguson. “He was unfortunately injured during the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2009, and someone else has come in and taken his spot. He’ll get more opportunities at some stage, there’s no doubt about that, and when he comes in, I expect we’ll see him doing those things [that have brought him success so far]. He’ll add a bit of spark and a different way of playing to the middle order.”
Like everyone in the world of work, William Porterfield is heading into a weekend and wants to forget about what the middle of the week was like. Unlike for everyone else, Sunday will not be a day of rest for him, and he thinks putting the past behind is mandatory. “First of all, we have to put Wednesday behind us,” the Ireland captain said, just over 24 hours from the time he will walk out with India captain MS Dhoni for the toss of the World Cup game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.Porterfield’s Wednesday was made up of the match that has put Ireland’s cricketers on the front pages of their newspapers back home and top of the mind of the cricketing public, particularly in the heated heart of the tournament’s biggest hosts. A match that should have been a regulation two points for one team has suddenly turned into a contest between a high-profile, high-coverage outfit regarded as among the biggest favourites to lift the World Cup and a squad who, from the tournament’s warm-up games up to Wednesday, have never left the field without a scrap. Victory over their historic and cultural rivals England on Wednesday has suddenly made Ireland genuine contenders for a quarter-final spot but Porterfield wants to brush all that under his team’s suddenly-airborne carpet.”We put in a good performance on Wednesday and created a wee bit of history there. Now we’ve got to start all over again,” Porterfield said. His voice carries the vocabulary and echo of Ireland’s strong, north-western ‘Derry’ accent that makes listeners from other parts of the cricket world lean forward, mouths open, in an attempt to both concentrate and comprehend. There is possibly no other cricket captain in the world who speaks in Porterfield’s quick bursts of rapid speech or can use the word ‘wee’ on the way to sounding tough and purposeful.He said, “We have a bigger challenge ahead of us, we’re playing India, we must take good things from the [Wednesday] game and the biggest things for ourselves is to go out fresh on the pitch and concentrate on what’s at hand.”Ireland’s captain William Porterfield said he uses his bowlers depending on who is performing on the day•AFP
The team, he said, wouldn’t be daunted by going out before a 39,000-strong crowd in Bangalore because their opening World Cup game in Dhaka had given them useful practice. “When we started the competition we knew we were playing two of the home nations in the group stage and they were going to be massive games.” Indian support in Bangalore he thought would be similar to the “pretty fanatical supporters” Ireland had encountered in Dhaka. “I don’t think that India’s going to be too different from that; there’s going to be a few more in tomorrow [Sunday] night than what there were in Bangladesh.” He paused for the briefest of seconds saying. “India in India is a pretty special occasion but it’s a challenge we are looking forward to.”What Ireland have braced themselves for is the possibility of a large 300-plus chase and Porterfield said it was why his team had chosen a long batting line-up, something facilitated by their many bowling options. The return of Andre Botha, their best death-overs bowler who was out of the England game due to an nth hour groin injury, would help the balance of the team but his absence now is not seen as critical as it may have been before the England match.”It didn’t really affect us because we’ve got so many options with the ball. Whoever comes up with the goods on the day, we just go with that. It could be that someone doesn’t bowl, but as long as the team is doing well players just have to deal with that.” He mentioned Paul Stirling’s ten overs versus England as an example of making the team’s options work. “He too pace off the ball, and bowled very well for us and it has kind of gone without mentioning. He took 1 for 45 off his ten through the middle overs which was crucial in helping restrict England.”Stirling is Porterfield’s opening partner, and was used as a bowler in the England match ahead of the team’s regular batting allrounder Kevin O’Brien, who went on to have what Porterfield would no doubt call a “wee” hand to play in the victory. With a poker face, Porterfield went on, “I don’t think Kevin was too upset with that [not bowling]. He would take 100 off 50 balls and not having to bowl any day.”Questioned several times about the pressure of the crowd, Porterfield was quick, bald and revealing in his summary of what he expected. “If you can’t go out there and get up for a game in front of 40-50,000 people, then I think there’s something wrong with you. Whether they are for you or against you, it doesn’t matter.”Win or lose on Sunday, Porterfield would want his team to hijack the name that the US’ University of Notre Dame gives all its sports teams. They call them the Fighting Irish.