Sunday 6 November 2011

Trent Johnston,,,

David Trent Johnston or as known to Irish cricket fans TJ or Trent Johnston, is an Australian born Irish cricketer. He is an all-rounder but mostly known for his bowling but is not too bad with the bat at all. He generally comes into about No.9 and he's a far better batsman than his batting position would suggest.

He plays for the Railway Union Cricket Club and has featured for New South Wales in first-class and List A cricket earlier in his career before he moved to Ireland, where he made his club cricket debut in Ireland in 1995 where he met his Irish wife. Till he caught the eye of Irish coach Adrian Birrell when he had qualified for an Irish passport, a move which would be a great decision for all involved in Irish cricket and for the fans of Irish cricket.

He showed to be a true professional, a player that everyone admired and played the game fairly and with 100% commitment and who is very dedicated to the Irish cricket cause,

He made his first debut for Ireland on the 5th of May 2004 against Surrey, a match in which Ireland won and it was only Ireland's second win against a first-class English county. His first-class debut for Ireland was against the Netherlands in the Intercontinental Cup.

He was made the Irish captain for the first time for the semi-final of the 2005 Intercontinental Cup against the UAE but the match was drawn, but Ireland qualified for the final on bonus points, and Ireland faced Kenya in the final which they won by six wickets.

Trent Johnston had shown why he was made captain, his cricket brain was top class, his attacking fields and his passion for cricket was passed through all who played for him, and he always gave 101%.

Trent remained Irish captain for the World Cricket League in 2007 and for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and the World Cup was to give Trent one of the proudest moments of his career.
Where he captained Ireland to a thrilling tie with Zimbabwe and hitting a massive six out of the park to score the winning runs against Pakistan, which was to be one of the biggest shocks of not just cricket but for the sporting World. And Ireland showed they weren't a one win wonder and they went out in the Super 8's and beat another test playing nation in Bangladesh.

He took also the second only hat-trick for Ireland in a Friends Provident Trophy game against Gloucestershire on the 10th of May 2007, the only other hat-trick by Ireland in it's history came in 1877 against I Zingari.

Despite the success in the 2007 World Cup, Ireland had come up against their old enemies in England many times and coming very close. And Ireland was one hit from beating England before a brilliant catch by Irish born Eoin Morgan prevented the boundary and England won.

The next time the two sides were to meet was in the ICC World T20 in 2010 and after 20 overs England were restricted to a small total of 120-8 with Eoin Morgan top scoring for England with 45 and with rain around Ireland's innings only got to 14/1 after 3.3 overs and resulting in the game being abandoned and England progressed to the super eight stage by net run rate and went on to win the competition, Ireland had much reason to be feel hard done by after managing to restrict England to a mere 120 but they would meet again.

Ireland had suffered defeat in a game they really felt they should have won in the 2011 World Cup against Bangladesh. The next game wasn't going to be any easier. The next game was against their neighbours England and England won the toss and decided to bat and it looked a very good decision when they posted a total of 327-8. And that was despite a very decent bowling effort in the last 10 overs by Ireland where Trent Johnston took his 50th ODI wicket when he bowled Michael Yardy of England, and in doing so became the first Irish bowler to do so.

Despite the high total and Ireland needing 328 to win and Ireland being an associate country they finally got the better of their neighbours from across the water and chased the total down and won by 3 wickets. It was the highest successful run chase in World Cup history.



Now with Trent being the young age of 37 he remains in the Irish side as a true professional and a servant to Irish cricket, he plans to retire after the next T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2012. It will be a sad day for not only Irish cricket fans but for Cricket fans all around the World who appreciate a good and honest cricketer who gives his all everytime he steps onto the pitch. And a man who carries himself as a gentleman, thank you Trent for everything, I hope when you do retire, that you can remain involved in Irish cricket, we need you...

1 comment:

  1. he is great player
    very good all rounder
    n has been a good servant for irish cricket
    respect for Trent Johnson..

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