Rusty Ireland lose to Eastern Province

Eastern Province XI 135 for 8 (Wessels 36, Birch 28, Johnston 4-42) beat Ireland 133 (Bray 43, Birch 3-17) by 2 wickets
Scorecard coming soon

Ireland suffered a narrow defeat to a strong Eastern Province XI at Port Elizabeth on Tuesday as their preparations for next week's World Cricket League continued.

In their first match since August 17 last year Ireland were patently lacking form, clearly demonstrated by their poor batting display. Only Jeremy Bray, the opening batsman who has been playing competitively in Australia during the winter, provided any sort of resistance with a well-composed 43. Peter Gillespie (14) was the only other batsman to reach double figures as Ireland were dismissed for just 133.

However they fought back strongly with the ball with Trent Johnston and Dave Langford-Smith making early inroads into the Eastern Province top order, but the home team's batting was simply too strong.

"Obviously it's disappointing to lose," Adrian Birrell, the Ireland coach, said, "but I was pleased with the attitude shown in the field. We didn't score enough runs, and our lack of competitive cricket was evident. Despite only making 133, we made them fight all the way, and could have won it.

"We play the same opposition tomorrow, and I'll be looking for improvements in the batting department. If we can get more runs on the board, I'd be confident of reversing this result."