The first ever match against Norway resulted in a facile Irish win, only 66 overs being bowled in the match. Norway qualified for the top six associate countries in Europe and hence their participation in this Tournament. It was the seventh playing of the European Cup since Ireland won the first, held in Denmark in 1996. Ireland went into this 2008 Cup as the holders, having won the tournament in Scotland in 2006.

There were two other firsts also. The first was the fact that this was the first time an International involving Ireland was played at The Hills Cricket Club in Milverton in North County Dublin. The second was that Ireland called up another new cap. The youthful Gavin McKenna from North Down had been very successful in Irish youth cricket as a medium paced left-arm bowler. He came into the panel for the non-ODI matches when P.S.Eaglestone cried off injured. Eaglestone was replaced in the ODI panel by Gary Wilson.

Ireland made two changes from the four-day match against Netherlands. McKenna replaced Connell (somewhat of a surprise) and White replaced Poynter. The entire Norway team were of Pakistan/Indian origin.

As usual, the Hills ground was in perfect order for this first International involving Ireland. The pitch was hard with a slight touch of green. The day was warm but overcast and there were a few drops of rain early on.

Zaheer, a burly left-hander, opened with Sameer when Norway won the toss and batted at 10:45 a.m. Fourie bowled the first over from the Pavilion end and Zaheer hit the third and fourth balls for resounding fours to long-off. McKenna's first ball was a wide and he bowled two more in the over, bowling left-arm over the wicket. Fourie bowled a maiden to Sameer. Very few runs came in the next few overs. Zaheer hit a square leg four in Fourie's fourth over. Then, in McKenna's fourth over, Fourie dropped a difficult running catch at deep third man off Sameer when he had only scored one and the total was 14. In McKenna's fifth and last over, the 10th, Sameer hit a four to mid-wicket.

The score after 10 overs was 31. O'Brien had replaced Fourie for over nine. The second powerplay was called after over 10 and Botha came on for McKenna for over 12. Botha's first over was a maiden to Sameer. Zaheer hit O'Brien for a four in over 11 after an escape at slip when the ball did not carry.

The first wicket fell to the first ball of over 13, O'Brien's third. Zaheer hit the ball high in the air. Fourie ran from left to right at mid-off and caught the ball near the boundary. 35-1-22. Ehtsham, right hand, was next but Sameer, who had crossed, played out a maiden. Botha's next over was also a maiden. Indeed, apart from two fours by Sameer there were very few runs in the next six overs. Then, in his fifth over, the 20th, Botha had Ehtsham caught at the wicket. 48-2-1. Ehtsham had scored one run from 23 balls. Indeed from over 10 to over 20 in two power plays Norway had only scored 18 runs.

Shahid, left-hander, did not last long. McCallan came on with the score at 49 for over 21. In over 22 Shahid was lucky when a pull dropped just short of deep square leg off Botha. To the second ball of McCallan's second over Shahid moved down the pitch, missed and was stumped. 52-3-1. Zeesham, right hand, and Sameer did try to increase the pace. 50 was up in over 21, 60 came up in over 26, and 70 in over 29 when Zeesham hit McCallan for six to wide mid-wicket. Kidd was given a few overs but the score after 30 overs was 81. In Kidd's fourth over Sameer was dropped at mid-on by McKenna when he was 31 and the total 83. Cusack replaced Kidd for over 34 and his second ball had Sameer LBW. 91-4-38. Sameer had faced 110 balls with five fours. At this point, 33.2 overs, Norway had lost four wickets. 10 overs later they were all out.

The next three wickets fell for the addition of only seven runs. Shahbaz came in at number six. Kidd changed ends and bowled the 35th over, in place of McCallan. Kidd's third ball was hoisted high to mid-on where Kidd himself made ground and took a good running catch. 95-5-17. Munawar came in but Shahbaz had crossed and was caught by O'Brien at slip off the next ball. 97-6-2. Siddiqui now faced and defended the possible Kidd hat-trick. In Cusack's next over, the 36th, Siddiqui played a ball towards McCallan at mid-on. Both batsmen took off. Munawar, the non-striker, either was sent back or tried to get back himself. He failed when McCallan ran in and broke the bowlers wicket. 98-7-1. Safia came in and Siddiqui snicked the next ball for four to bring up 100

Kidd's next over brought the fourth wicket to fall in four overs. Safia was caught high and two handed by O'Brien at first slip. 102-8-0. Khalid came and went quickly. He was out in over 39, Kidd's seventh, when he skied to mid-on. Botha took the catch near the pitch having raced in from a deepish mid-on position. 104-9-0. The last wicket, Saqib the number 11 and Siddiqui, lasted for five overs and put on 15 runs, the third highest stand of the innings. In the 41st over, bowled by Kidd, Siddiqui hit successive fours, to mid-wicket and square cover, which was misfielded. McCallan came back for Cusack for over 42. The first ball of over 44 had Siddiqui caught by Botha at short mid-wicket. Siddiqui's 16 runs, including three fours, stood out among the last six batsmen. The other five scored seven between them. There was one ball less than seven overs left when Norway were all out.

No less than seven bowlers were used by Ireland. None bowled 10 overs and five shared the wickets. The star was Kidd who took 4-25 in nine overs. Nine maidens were bowled in the 43 overs, three each for Botha and Kidd.

Led by Wilson Ireland made short work of getting 120 to win. Only two wickets were lost and just under 23 overs were needed. In fact the Norwegian innings had ended early enough for the Irish innings to commence before lunch and, indeed, nine overs to be bowled before lunch was taken.

The start was the slowest part of the innings. The first over went for 10, but 20 did not come up until over five, and 30 came up in over nine. Then the pace increased. 50 was up in over 12, 70 in over 15, 80 in over 19 and 100 in over 21. When the 23rd over started 15 were needed. Three fours to Botha meant that only five legal balls were bowled in that over before the win was achieved.

Khalid Khurram and Saqib Qayyum were Norway's opening bowlers. Both were right arm and not much above medium pace. Wilson took 10 off the first over, bowled by Khalid with fours to extra cover and backward point. The openers each bowled three overs. Shahbaz Butt, legspin, bowled over number seven which was a maiden. Shahid Ahmad, another slow bowler, bowled the eighth over which was another maiden. After the ninth over lunch was taken with the score on 30, Wilson 20 and Strydom three.

Those two bowlers bowled again after lunch. Wilson took eight of the 11th over, bowled by Shahbaz, including a square cut four. In the 12th over Strydom hit two fours and Wilson one. 58 was up after 12 overs. Strydom swept a four in over 13. Zeesham Ali came on for over 14, another legspinner. Strydom hit his first ball for four. The fourth ball bounced up a little. Strydom followed it up and was caught at the wicket. 67-1-21.

Stirling came in and a quiet period followed except that in over 16 Wilson pulled a four off Ali. Opening bowler Saqib return for over 19. Wilson hit a four to extra and two wides were bowled. The third legal ball was hit to short extra by Stirling. Shahid took a very good catch overhead with both hands, moving to his right. 85-2-5. Botha hit his second ball for four to extra cover. Wilson square cut a four in the next over.

Siddiqui, yet another legspinner, came on for over 21. Botha hit him for successive fours to mid-wicket and extra cover which made 97 into 105. Shahbaz replaced Ali for over 22 and bowled a maiden to Wilson. Siddiqui began over 23 with a wide on which the batsmen ran two runs. Then, to finish the match, Botha hit three fours in four balls, the first two high to long-on and the winning four to extra cover.

Wilson's 47 came from 65 balls with six fours. Botha only faced 18 balls for his 25 and those 25 runs came from six fours and a single!