A Presidential Diary Part 8
September 17th 2013 by Robin Walsh |
Cricket Ireland President Robin Walsh writes again from the pen of the president, this time he saw Ireland complete three wins over Scotland in a week witnessing three very different matches in Stormont and in Clontarf but all ending with the win for the Boys in Green.
The summer’s gone and with it Ireland’s games on home soil for another year. And if the season had started in nail-biting fashion with that tie and narrow defeat against Pakistan it was no less the case at the end of it.
Witness the first of the two one-day internationals at Stormont against Scotland. The old enemy required two wins to stay in contention for the remaining automatic qualifying place in the ICC World Cup finals Down Under in 2015, Ireland having already achieved its objective.
I was in the midst of Scottish blazers as the game reached its climax: Scotland needed to restrict Ireland to 12 runs off the last over to secure the vital two points.
My Celtic cousins began to recite an anxious, but increasingly confident, countdown with last pair Tim Murtagh and George Dockrell in the middle. First ball single, 11 off five; second ball single, 10 off four and, again, third ball single, nine off three. Murtagh put an end to the recitation with a straight six – Ireland’s only maximum of the innings - as my Scottish friends were shocked into silence. The next ball went to the boundary, Ireland had won with one wicket and one ball to spare and for the devastated Scots there is now the lottery of a World Cup qualifying tournament in New Zealand for the two remaining Associate places.
Two games remained against Scotland and it was all too predictable it would be plain sailing for Ireland against a team utterly demoralised. First up a seven wicket win in the second ODI, followed by an innings walloping in the Intercontinental Cup tie at Clontarf which dispensed with any hope Scotland may have had of reaching the final of the four-day competition. Again Ireland was already through to the December final in the UAE and will now meet Afghanistan.
I’ve talked before of the huge pressure on Ireland to dominate Associate cricket if the declared aim of higher status within the world game is to be achieved. The first Scotland game was a prime example.
Chasing 224 for victory, William Porterfield and Paul Stirling hoisted 95 without loss before an inexplicable collapse put Ireland in dire straits at 146 for 7. My Scottish counterpart offered me liquid refreshment “to calm me down”, a generous gesture I declined, suggesting it might be a touch premature!
If Ireland felt the pressure, the later batsmen didn’t show it, displaying a will to win that was admirable. Trent Johnston (24), Max Sorensen (31) and Murtagh’s final flourish saw to it that the liquid refreshment was on me.
The four-day Intercontinental at Clontarf was a delight and not just because of the overwhelming victory. The weather and the excellence of a new look Ireland side may have compressed proceedings into two days but it was enough to remind one of the warm friendship and hospitality that exists at the club. Long may it continue to host international matches alongside Malahide.
I had the honour of presenting first caps to Craig Young and Andy McBrine, neither in the least overawed by the occasion. Young in particular provided real encouragement as Ireland scan the field as the excellent Trent Johnston prepares to take his leave of the international scene at the ICC World T20 qualifiers in the UAE come November. The young Sussex player’s fast medium pace yielded six wickets and gave a promising glimpse of the future.
There was another presentation at the other end of the scale, marking the 200th cap of one Kevin O’Brien. In making it, my mind went back to a certain happening in Bangalore in the 2011 World Cup game against England. We all hope for many, many more.
All that remains of Cricket Ireland’s season is Saturday’s final game of the highly successful Inter-Provincial series when North-West Warriors entertain Leinster Lighting at Strabane. Leinster has, of course, already won the three-day and T20 championships and victory in the 50-over format will clinch a remarkable hat trick.
Thereafter, it will be an autumn of union and club dinners which have already started with a delightful evening at Pembroke, made even more enjoyable by a clever and hugely amusing performance at the microphone by YMCA President, Heatley Tector. I have to say it was generous of Pembroke to invite him given the result of the RSA Leinster Cup final!
One of my aims when I donned the presidential blazer back in April was that it should fit me at the end of my year in office. Somehow I doubt it.