Craig Young stars as Ireland dominate opening day against Scotland

September 12th 2013 by Cricket Ireland |

Craig Young receives his first cap yesterday © Barry Chambers

Craig Young enjoyed a dream international debut claiming 4 for 53 as Ireland dominated the opening day of their InterContinental Cup clash against Scotland at Clontarf.

The 23 year-old Bready born speedster, currently on the books of Sussex, tore through the Scottish top order trio of Freddie Coleman, Richie Berrington and Preston Mommsen in an inspired spell.

He then came back to have top scorer Safyaan Sharif caught behind as Scotland made just 138 all out in 50.1 overs.

Young, was one for four North West players in the Ireland team - the others were fellow debutant Andrew McBrine, Graeme McCarter, and skipper William Porterfield.

McCarter, on the books of Gloucestershire, may not posses the raw speed of Young, but he was certainly very accurate, conceding just 13 runs in a 12 overs spell, while taking the wickets of Majid Haq, Moneeb Iqbal and Iain Wardlaw.

The dismissal of Haq was the champagne moment of the day, brilliantly caught by a diving Kevin O’Brien - making his 200th appearance for Ireland - low down at second slip.

O’Brien himself claimed 2 for 29 in an impressive Irish bowling display - albeit in helpful overcast conditions which prevailed for most of the day.

Safyaan Sharif (41) and Moneeb Iqbal (25) rescued the Scots from a precarious 68 for 7 - adding 56 for the 8th wicket, but one expects a total of 138 won’t be enough to secure the first innings points they require to keep alive their dreams of making another ICup final appearance.

Ireland openers William Porterfield (23*) and Paul Stirling (11*) survived a potentially tricky six over spell before the close - Porterfield being particularly savage on anything remotely loose, striking four boundaries.

Play on Day Two will start at 10am in an attempt to make up some of the time lost due to the rain.

To see the scorecard in full please click here.