Cricket World Cup: Ireland walloped by Sri Lanka

That it should come to this for Ireland is a real shame, they have shown in this World Cup what disciplined cricket can do for teams of lesser talent.  This is not meant to be patronising in any way, as it is a fact that they are of lesser talent, to which they would no doubt agree.

However, their talent is not so feeble as to justify their total of 77 all out in this game; they simply capitulated; to Farveez Maharoof mostly (10-3-25-4).  Just as England should never have been run through by the likes of Andrew Hall, no team should be run through by Maharoof.  Murali also picked up 4 wickets, as you would expect.

Sri Lanka won with ease, despite the early loss of Thuranga to the ever impressive Boyd Rankin -  watch out for him at Derbyshire this year, if they can get more consistency in his action this lad could be some bowler.  They finally cruised to 81-2 from 10 overs to wrap up victory. [lee calvert]