Ireland wilt against below-par contenders

At some point during this World Cup, Ireland were bound to get a hiding, but it will irk them no end that it came against a New Zealand side that let slip their own high standards. On a pitch that was far from treacherous, New Zealand's batting was especially mediocre, with Peter Fulton's disciplined 83 holding the fabric together until Brendon McCullum and James Franklin gave it some flamboyant touches. Until Trent Johnston and Kevin O'Brien gave away 45 in the final three overs, this was an evenly contested game, but the batting depth that did for Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee series obliterated any chance of an upset.

To be fair, there was nothing Ireland could do about it. Andrè Botha, their premier allrounder and first-choice late-overs bowler, was out with a hamstring problem, and as Adrian Birrell, the coach, said later, there's only so much you can do when you have someone with a Test century batting at No. 9. Franklin hit that 122 not out at Newlands not so long ago, and his batting talent caught the Irish cold, even as McCullum showed off his big-hitting prowess at the other end.

Having been effective with the new ball in most of the matches so far, Ireland started poorly, with Boyd Rankin's radar switched off and Fulton in a belligerent mood. That they reined it in thereafter said as much about their determination not to embarrass themselves at this level as it did about a pitch where strokeplay was never going to be easy.

"I said to Stephen Fleming that the first half a dozen overs we bowled were not up to scratch," Johnston said. "The spinners bowled outstandingly well but we let the game slip in the last half dozen overs. Chasing 260 was going to be very tough against two spinners in the second innings."

Johnston had bowled tidily for eight overs, but his last two went for 31 as Franklin and McCullum ruthlessly picked off anything that was in the slot. After superb mid-innings spells of spin from Kyle McCallan and Andrew White, it was a poor way to finish, and Johnston put it down to inexperience and the quality of the opposition.

"We don't have a [Andrew] Hall or a [Charl] Langeveldt who can bowl 140 with swinging yorkers," he said. "We needed to have variety, but they had the experience."

For a while, with the two O'Briens batting so well, a tilt at windmills appeared possible, but once a bad call from Niall ended Kevin's brilliant knock of 49, Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel scythed through the lower order, few of whom would have faced slow bowlers of comparable quality. "I'm not a big spinner of the ball, so I mixed up my pace today and used some drift," Vettori said. "Hopefully I can carry this form into the big matches we've got coming up."

Afterwards, Birrell spoke of how he fancied New Zealand's chances of going all the way, but for Fleming, this wasn't really a satisfactory outing. "What we did today was keep Ireland in the game for a long time," he said. "Their slow bowling, combined with captaincy and aggressive field settings meant that they had some good periods. These slow pitches look even slower when you keep giving wickets away."

Fulton, whose 110-ball display at the top of the order ensured that there would be no capitulation, agreed with the sentiments expressed by Fleming. The 129-run victory looked great on paper, but Fulton was also of the view that the batting needed to be viewed with a critical eye. "With confidence comes great expectation," he said, and on today's evidence, that expectation is far from misplaced.

Ireland fought the good fight against both South Africa and England, while Bangladesh stunned South Africa just two days ago. New Zealand have extinguished both the so-called lesser lights with time to spare, and must now be considered serious contenders. Australia and Sri Lanka, the other form sides, will certainly be wary.