It was a day of anticlimax for a packed house on Sunday as the Ormeau ground in Belfast hosted its last major game of cricket

CricInfo13-Aug-2001It was a day of anticlimax for a packed house on Sunday as the Ormeau ground inBelfast hosted its last major game of cricket. The international betweenIreland and the touring Australians was cut short when rain ended play afterjust 23.4 overs.In a game intended as a send-off for Ormeau before it is turned into a housingdevelopment, Australia had reached 86 for the loss of one wicket before raindescended on the ground after 100 minutes of play. As the rain became morepersistent, the match was finally abandoned at 3.30pm.Approximately 4000 people had turned up for this game, which had been a selloutwell in advance.The Australians were sent into bat by Irish captain Kyle McCallan, with MatthewHayden and Justin Langer opening the batting for the tourists. Hayden got awayto a brisk start, but Langer was struggling for form, and was out for 22,caught by Dom Joyce at point off the bowling of Conor Armstrong. This wasalmost certainly Langer’s final innings of this Ashes tour, with the Fourth andFifth Test the only remaining matches on the Australians’ itinerary.When the rains came, Hayden was unbeaten on 52 from 74 deliveries, while SimonKatich, who will almost certainly make his Test debut at Headingley on Thursdayin place of the injured Steve Waugh, was on 5.Most impressive of the Irish bowlers was 21 year-old right-arm seamer AdrianMcCoubrey who, despite bowling three wides, conceded just 15 runs from hisseven overs.With the Australians returning to England planning to extend their 3-0 Ashesseries scoreline to 5-0, Ireland have a busy, if more mundane, program ahead ofthem this month as they try to put the disappointment of missing out on the2003 World Cup behind them. The Irish, too, head off to England today to takepart in the oddly-titled Triple Crown tournament, an annual four-teamcompetition also including Scotland, Wales and an England Amateur XI. Theirfirst game will be against Wales at Horsham on Tuesday. Then, on August 29,Ireland will play Wiltshire in the first round of the new split-season formatof the C&G Trophy.