5 Top Associate Cricketing Nations Of All Time

#1 Ireland

Ireland's rise has been phenomenal

The Ireland Cricket team is by far the most successful Associate team. Due to their successes in the Intercontinental Cup which is a first-class tournament for the Associates and at the World Cup, they were labelled the "leading Associate". They were awarded the Test status in June 2017. They have won the Intercontinental Cup four times, which is the most by any team.

Ireland played their first One-day International against England in a losing effort. However, Ireland put on a fairly good display in making a chase of 302. Ireland were also missing two of their integral players in Eoin Morgan and Niall O'Brien when they lost the match by 38 runs. Ireland has also been known to cause the hugest upsets in the biggest stages.

It all started with knocking Pakistan out of the World Cup 2007 in a group game in a low-scoring affair. Batting first, Pakistan had been skittled out for a paltry 132. Pakistan, however, kept picking wickets at regular intervals and it did seem like Ireland will succumb to the pressure. Niall O'Brien's half-century kept them in the hunt and made sure that Ireland completed a historic win.

The group game against England in World Cup 2011 at Bengaluru had witnessed the birth of Kevin O'Brien and his fireworks. Kevin O' Brien's fastest century in the World Cup enabled Ireland to seal the biggest successful chase in World Cup history, chasing 329. England who would have expected a walk in the park against the Irish, however, found themselves on the receiving end of the fastest century in World Cup history.

Ireland pulled off yet another upset in World Cup history by beating West Indies, chasing 305 in 2015. Out of five successful World Cup chases of 300 runs or more, Ireland has provided three; doing it against Netherlands, England and West Indies.

Ireland had their turn to play their inaugural Test cricket on 11th May 2018 against Pakistan. Kevin O'Brien, this time displayed a tremendous amount of patience and determination when Ireland had conceded a big first innings lead after being bowled out for 130, in reply to Pakistan's 310.

Pakistan seemed on their way to self-destruct after their jittery start to the chase of 160. However, Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam made sure that Pakistan won it by 5 wickets to avoid a fairy tale start to Test cricket for Ireland. They have continued to prove time and again that they belong very much to the international level and have taken giant strides on becoming the team to beat.