Ireland and Netherlands

Ireland, and Netherlands
So after what was a competitive ICC qualifying tournament I thought of looking at the present state of some of the ICC associate teams like the champions themselves Ireland, and Netherlands.
Ireland
To start with Ireland who were the champions easily looked the better side of the tournament and they lost only two games in the entire tournament. Ireland showed great team spirit and of course they have some fine players too like the captain, Porterfield, Niel' O Brien, the former captain Jhonston, Rankin etc but there have been times in the past when they have underperformed but this time around they showed their class and deservedly won the trophy.

Porterfield the left handed opening batsman looks like a gutsy type of player who is strong on the back foot as is the wicket keeper batsman N 'O Brien who does have a better range of shots than Porterfield but again he too is very strong on the back foot and tidy behind the stumps too, Rankin the tall quick had some shoulder problems but has come back and is now playing for warwickshire. He too played a important part in the final of the tournament against Canada and of course there is the experienced Jhonston who showed that he is still very good by taking 5 wickets in the finals.

Overall it was an fine performance by Ireland though it is worrying to see that some of their main players like Joyce, Morgan have left Ireland to play for England.
Holland
Netherlands also did well to reach the semifinals. The players who did well for them include the experienced Zuidrent who is still going strong. When one thinks of Bas Zuidrent the first thing that comes to anyone's mind is his superb batting in the 96 WC and in that tournament he played well against bowlers like Cork. Since then he has played for Sussex and has continued to do well for Netherlands. Of course players like Klas van Nortwijk, Luke Van Troost have left the scene and Dirk Nannes being unavailable also did not help still having players like Zuidrent, the inspirational all rounder Ryan ten Doeschate, Van Bunge the opener, youngsters like Kervezee has meant that they do have a bright future ahead of them.

So it has been a good tournament for both the teams what with Ireland winning the tournament, and the Dutch team reaching the semi finals yet both have to show that they can mix with the big boys. Of course the Irish team did show in the 2007 Cup that they can do well as they did defeat Pakistan in that tournament but they have to create more upsets like that. One more factor to consider is that teams like Netherlands. Ireland rarely get to play the full fledged teams which is hampering their progress