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The tri-series in Kenya has now been confirmed - there had been some speculation that Ireland would face pressure from the Irish Government over facing Zimbabwe, but Cricket Ireland Chief Executive Warren Deutrom has confirmed that they've cleared the series with the Department of Foreign Affairs, and there are no problems with the series being played on neutral ground.

In seperate news, ZC have also released the itinerary for Sri Lanka's visit to the country in November. The tour will comprise one 4-day match, a 1-day tour match and 5 ODIs - full details on our Fixtures page.

CricInfo lists the following fixtures for a tri-series in Kenya, with all matches to be played at the Gymkhana Ground in Nairobi:

Friday 17 October       Ireland v Zimbabwe
Saturday 18 October     Kenya v Ireland
Sunday 19 October       Kenya v Zimbabwe
Tuesday 21 October      Ireland v Zimbabwe
Wednesday 22 October    Kenya v Ireland
Thursday 23 October     Kenya v Zimbabwe

There's no official confirmation of this series yet that I'm aware of, so don't take this as certain.

With my Ireland hat on, I can't really compain too much about this one - the Sunday Mail reports that Ryan Ervine, younger brother of Sean, has signed for Irish side Carrickfergus, where he's also been appointed assistant coach. According to the club,

"The club is also delighted to announce that we have secured the services of 19-year-old Zimbabwean all-rounder, Ryan Ervine, for the 2008 season. Ryan, youngest brother of Zimbabwean international star, Sean, is Irish-qualified and will be hoping to impress Irish selectors during his time with Carrickfergus in the NCU Premier League. Ryan will work alongside Colin (Birch) as the club's assistant professional/coach in the coming season."

The statement that Ryan is hoping to impress Irish selectors would also indicate he's turned his back on any possible career with Zimbabwe - although no doubt having been overlooked by Zim's selectors despite good form recently helped make that decision a little easier.
Carrickfergus Cricket Club - Carrickfergus Signs Birch and Ervine for 2008

Zimbabwe's batsmen typically went all to pieces in their final Under-19 World Cup match in Johor on Saturday, giving Ireland 13th place in the tournament. Batting first after Ireland won the toss, only Reginald Nehonde (43) and Solomon Mire (12) reached double figures as Zimbabwe spluttered their way to 99/9 in an innings that was shortened by rain to 27 overs. Andrew Britton took 4/14 from 6 overs.

Ireland weren't exactly stellar in reply, with only on of their 6 batsmen in passing 15, but that was more than enough given Zim's woeful performance and the boys in green passed their target with 22 balls remaining. James Hall top-scored on 32, while Stewart Matsika took 2/14 from his 5 overs.

While there's some promise in the Zim U19 side on the bowling front, the batting is a real cause for concern - the side has been nothing short of hopeless with the bat throughout the tournament. By all accounts, this has been a far weaker side than Zimbabwe could have fielded, with political and / or quota issues being the main cause of the problem. If Zimbabwe want to be able to field a side in future that has any hope of being competitive, such petty concerns really need to be put to one side - but somehow I doubt those in control are really paying attention. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe U19 99/9 (27/27 overs; Nehonde 43, Britton 4/14), Ireland U19 100/4 (23.2/27 overs; Hall 32, Matsika 2/14). Ireland in by 6 wickets.

Zimbabwe's women won't be qualifying for the World Cup, or gaining Test status, after they lost their final group match to Ireland on Thursday (21st). Batting first, Ireland powered their way to 305/5 from their 50 overs, led by Isobel Joyce's 70 (and 40 extras from Zimbabwe's bowlers did no harm, either). The only Zimbabwean not to have a go with the ball was 'keeper Nonthlanthla Nyathi - of the 10 that bowled, captain Julia Chibhabha was the most effective, with 2/40 off her 10 overs.

In reply, Zim were equally out of their depth - Emily Jinjik and Yvonne Rainsford top-scored on 14 each, as Zim were bowled out for 97 in 30 overs. The side now go on to the 5th-place playoffs, where they meet Bermuda on Friday - give the Caribbean side's inept display against South Africa earlier in the tournament, this should be one match the women will be assured of winning... Scorecard below the cut.
Ireland 305/5 (50 overs; Joyce 70, Chibhabha 2/40), Zimbabwe 97 (Jinjika 14, Rainsford 14, Joyce 4/10). Ireland win by 208 runs.

The ICC have updated the LG ODI rankings table, now that Ireland have qualified - and the bad news for Zim is that Ireland have entered the table ahead of them, coming in at 10th place with a rating of 29, ahead of Zimbabwe who are on 22. The bottom end of the table currently looks like this:

                Pl  Pts    Rnk
 9  Bangladesh  42  1892    45
10  Ireland     11  317     29
11  Zimbabwe    36  779     22
12  Kenya       11  0       0

Another little bit of humiliation thrown Zimbabwe's way, then, as we're now the only Full Member side to be ranked below an Associate - although I don't think anyone can argue that Ireland don't deserve their ranking... Hopefully there'll be some more matches arranged between these sides in the not-too-distant future.

UPDATE: Apparently the ICC's maths is defective - 317 divided by 11 is 29, not 37. The table's now been updated accordingly on the ICC site.

Ireland met West Indies for the right to carry 2 points through to the Super Eight stage, and after West Indies' unconvincing win over Zimbabwe, Ireland may have fancied their chances. The luck of the Irish wasn't with them today, though, as the Windies found some form with both bat and ball. Batting first, Ireland were restricted to 183 from their 48 overs (match shortened due to rain delays), and a timely 102 not out from Shivnarine Chanderpaul saw West Indies home with plenty of time to spare.

India needed to beat Sri Lanka to be sure of their place in the Super Eight, but Sri Lanka refused to do them any favours despite having already secured their own slot. Led by Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka made 254/6 from their allotted overs, then proceeded to tear through the India batting lineup. Dravid (60) and Sehwag (48) put up something of a fight, but not enough to save the game for the Indians, who now rely on Bermuda beating Bangladesh in the final group match on Sunday to have any chance of progress.
West Indies beat Ireland by 8 wickets (D/L method)
Sri Lanka beat India by 69 runs

Welcome to Upset Saturday, as Bangladesh and Ireland overturned the form books - and in the process dumped former World Cup champions Pakistan out of the competition.

First up, Bangladesh's win over India. Perhaps it's all those matches against Zimbabwe, perhaps not, but Bangladesh have been a side on the up for a while now, and India appear to have been caught napping. After choosing to bat on a bowler-friendly surface, India faced a discplined and controlled bowling attack from the Bangladeshis and found themselves unable to cope. Bangladesh, meanwhile, exhibited patience when their turn with the bat came around, and comfortably reached the required total with only a few minor scares along the way. This "upset" wasn't entirely unexpected - reports ahead of the game had pointed out Bangladesh's recent improvement and had the match marked as a possible upset. The writers of those reports got what they wanted, and India now need to make sure they don't slip up against Bermuda or Sri Lanka if they're to proceed.

If Bangladesh's performance didn't really surprise, though, Ireland's did. While the other Associates have been torn apart by the Full Member sides, Ireland came into this game fresh from their tie with Zimbabwe and with a real nothing-to-lose attitude. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, writing in a CricInfo article ahead of the match, had used Ireland as an example of where the ICC's High Performance programme was working, and called them a "banana-skin side" - shame he doesn't appear to have told his team. Needing a win to stay in the competition after losing to the West Indies, Pakistan failed to cope with the Irish bowlers on another bowler-friendly track at Sabina Park. When "Extras" is your second-highest scorer, you know that something's wrong, and even Pakistan's big guns - Inzamam, Younis Kahan and Mohammad Yousuf, who managed just 16 runs between them - were left wondering what hit them, as Pakistan collapsed to 132. Ireland suffered some wobbles in reply, being 2/15 at one point and losing 3 wickets for 5 runs later in the innings, but composed displays by the O'Brien brothers provided an anchor for the innings and helped see the Irish home with more than six overs to spare. It also gives Ireland a real shot of reaching the Super Eight, if Zimbabwe lose their two remaining matches. Well done to the Irish on St Patrick's Day, and raspberries to those who doubted the ability of the Associate sides to make an impact on the tournament.
Bangladesh beat India by 5 wickets
Ireland beat Pakistan by 3 wickets

Next up: England v Canada in Group C, and Australia v Netherlands in Group A.

Yanked from YouTube, some highlight reels from the Ireland v Zimbabwe match:
Ireland innings
Zimbabwe innings

And for the real torture, here are the final two overs:
49th Over
50th Over

Like the team from the Duvalier-ruled Haiti at the 1974 World Cup, whatever [Zimbabwe] do on the field is likely to be overshadowed by the actions of the regime back home. But to target them for the acts of their government is as illogical as considering Ali Bacher and Mike Proctor racists merely because they played at a time when South Africa was ruled by oppressors like Hendrik Verwoerd and John Vorster.

-- CricInfo's Dileep Premachandran (in response to Andy Flower's calls for sporting sanctions against Zimbabwe)

"We did our best to throw it away, but we fought back in the last eight to ten overs to give ourselves a chance. To get it back to a tie was outstanding."

-- Irish captain Trent Johnston

"The guys fumbled at the end. There was a lot of tension. We dropped too many catches and gave away runs. But we will learn to relax and that will get us through next time."

-- Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya

"We played 25% below what we're capable of. The emotions were up and down, but this is a team that fights all the way."

-- Ireland coach Adrian Birrell