Cricket: Scintillating stand from Berrington stuns Irish

The man who hit the winning boundary for Scotland's cricket team in a record-breaking victory over Ireland at Raeburn Place yesterday was first to lead the applause for pinch-hitting man-of-the-match, Richie Berrington.

While Josh Davey, from Middlesex, may have put the final seal on a remarkable feat in chasing down an Irish total of 320 from 50 overs - the previous best by the Scots was 287 also against Ireland in Kenya four years ago - there was no question that the turning point came when Greenock's Berrington smashed 56 in 20 balls, including half a dozen sixes to seize the initiative.

"Credit has to go to Richie. He hit the ball out of the park cleanly," said Davey of a half century that ranked in the top ten fastest in one-day international history.

Davey, who contributed to a partnership of 63 in just five overs, added: "I was thinking 'Richie is going so well I will give him strike'. It paid off. We were thinking with the short boundary there's always a chance to go at over 10 an over."

Which is, effectively, what Scotland did although for long enough they looked to be struggling after wasting a useful toss when Ireland were inserted under a cloudy sky, making the ball liable to seam around.

Paul Stirling, son of former Irish international rugby ref, Brian Stirling, led the way with his third one-day hundred (113) in four innings but, as hero-of-the-hour Berrington noted, Scotland's attack did impose themselves in the latter part of the visitors' innings.

"It was a fantastic win to chase down 320. We didn't bowl as well as we would have liked but brought it back near the end," said Berrington after Scotland's fourth one-day victory on the reel - their record is five back in early 2007.

Such form contrasted with earlier scratchy knocks for the Saltires in the Clydesdale Bank pro-40 series but again the response owed much to Cricket Scotland's strategies.

"The regional games have been helpful and got me back in form," said Berrington.

Captain Gordon Drummond also touched on the homegrown nature of the side and in such circumstances it was ironic to recall a programme article by the usually perceptive ex-Saltire Paul Hoffman headlined "Five ways to catch up with Ireland" and insisting that "Ireland have been bolstered by foreigners."

That may have been good enough to enable the Irish to beat England at this year's World Cup, but Scotland, on current form, were a different proposition.

Drummond said: "We have been rebuilding and hopefully these guys are confident. All the guys are doing their jobs and that is all you can ask for.

"Remember there are a few guys missing as well - Matt Parker was our player of the year last year. "The team has all come through the youth ranks - that shows how well we are doing the development work in this country.

"The confidence in the squad now is at a decent level and long may it continue. These results may make people take note but also come and watch us. We are playing exciting cricket and we have exciting cricketers."

Earlier, to reinforce the point, Drummond sent out Dunfermline 20-year-old Sayaaf Sharif, playing only his second international, with victory in sight but still to be secured; many might have expected a more experienced batsman to take the stage at that moment.

"He (Sayaaf) is a good all round cricketer and we have belief in him. We expect players to come in and do the job and not take 10 or 12 games to do the job. We expect them to do it from ball one," said the Carlton man. "He is a clean striker of the cricket ball so that's why he went in. Experience of playing in big matches gives you confidence in playing in these big games. People forget last year we were in the finals of the World Cricket League and the I (Intercontinental Cup) final as well."

So, if Scotland have turned a corner - "we take it game at a time," declared Drummond - coach Peter Steindl has achieved a blend based on introducing sparkling newcomers such as Preston Mommsen but also be retaining faith in rejuvenated stars.

For example, in hitting 54, Fraser Watts has moved within 30 runs of reaching four figures in one-dayers and also has the distinction of sharing in the all-time top three Saltires ODI partnerships - 203 (with Gavin Hamilton), 141 (with Mommsen) and yesterday's opening stand of 129 with Kyle Coetzer.

If that paved the way for the triumph, a pivotal moment came much earlier when Majid Haq, at times criticised for his fielding, pulled off a blinding diving catch to dismiss Kevin O'Brien, first ball.

This, the same O'Brien who, last March, smashed the fastest century in one-day history (50 balls) as Ireland beat England at the World Cup.

Had O'Brien lingered, it must be a moot point at least whether redoubtable Scottish coach Steindl would, when stumps were drawn on the five-wicket win achieved with nine balls to spare, have been making savouring such a glorious feat. "That was pretty special, a pretty special day," he said. "It was always going to be a tough ask to get that total (320). I'm really pleased for the guys. It was a team effort. We believed we could get there. It was nice to do it. We thought if we could be 240 for three or four down then 85 in last 10 overs with the power play (restricted fielding options) we could do it."

So it proved and Raeburn Place witnessed it's most exciting Scotland encounter since 2003 when a record 44-ball Ryan Watson century sent Somerset packing.