IT’S PARTY TIME
WHEN John Mooney struck the winning boundary against England at 10:27pm in Bangalore on Wednesday night to spark euphoric scenes in both the Irish dressing room and the stadium, I knew what was in store as Media Manager of the Ireland cricket team.
Sure enough, within seconds of the victory being secured my three mobile phones started ringing and haven’t stopped since! Media outlets from around the globe wanted to speak about this magnificent upset and from Melbourne to Mumbai, and Bangalore to Belfast, they came calling.
Kevin O’Brien has been, without doubt, the player everyone wants a piece of and, at the last count, I had 132 interview requests on hold for him – and that was after he must have completed in excess of that on Thursday.
Cricket Ireland have a tracking service which sends me clippings of every story which mentions the side throughout the world in the media — most days the average is about five — Thursday saw 614! I’m well aware that there’s a balance between securing as much media exposure for cricket in Ireland as possible, and protecting the players from fatigue.
For Kevin O’Brien, whose birthday it was yesterday, it’s certainly been a week to remember. The fastest ever World Cup hundred by some considerable distance has made him one of the most marketable cricketers on the planet — I can think of no better stage than Bangalore to showcase your batting prowess in front of a global audience of one billion, and with the Indian Premier League scouts watching. His innings has put him very much on their radar, and there’s also reported interest in his older brother, Niall, from franchises. Millionaire status awaits for both if a contract materialises.
The England team had ordered four crates of beer for themselves when they had reduced Ireland to 111 for 5 but, needless to say, they weren’t looking for them after the defeat! Ireland manager Roy Torrens negotiated their diversion into our dressing room, and we sang and drank in the changing room before the stadium personnel told us they were switching off the lights. Back at the team hotel, the palatial ITC Royal Gardenia, the party continued until 3am.
The personal highlight for me was when a congratulatory cake arrived from the hotel – by coincidence it was also beaten England captain Andrew Strauss’ birthday — and we took great delight in singing Happy Birthday at full voice!. Little did we know that just an hour later he would turn up with colleagues Matt Prior and Paul Collingwood — it says a lot about the man that he would do that.
I’ve been asked many times since how this victory compares to the win over Pakistan, and there’s no doubt in everyone’s mind that this surpasses it considerably. First of all, it was against England, which for a variety of reasons makes it all the sweeter. The fact that the conditions were equal for both teams was also important, as there were those who felt we got the rub of the green in Jamaica in that regard at the last World Cup in 2007.
To chase a World Cup record score of 327 was just fantasy stuff, and Kevin’s hundred off just 50 balls was the icing on the cake.
The timing of this win was also significant, with the game’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, having already taken the decision to reduce the 2015 World Cup to just 10 sides, with the likelihood that it could be restricted to Full Members. So, with the other three Associate nations here, Netherlands, Canada and Kenya, all taking heavy beatings, the pressure was really on Ireland to deliver.
This win may have shocked the world, but it came as no surprise to those within Irish cricket. Whereas the 2007 squad which beat Pakistan, famously on St Patrick’s Day, was composed of teachers, a postman, students, a painter and an electrician, the team that defeated England all earn their living from cricket. There are seven with English county sides and six contracted to Cricket Ireland.
That has been made possible through the support of RSA, our team sponsor, and both sports councils, north and south.
The professionalism of the Cricket Ireland organisation extends to not just the playing staff, but the support staff as well. There are now structures in place, especially in the crucial areas of coaching and development. There has been a huge growth in the numbers playing the game in the past four years — from 15,000 to 25,000.
Cricket Ireland has plans to extend that number to 50,000 and grow the game in non-traditional areas. This year has seen the formation of a Connacht Cricket Union, and its president is none other than Jody Morgan, the father of Eoin Morgan, the most high profile Irishman playing cricket, albeit for England.
The spread of the game in Munster and Connacht is a priority. This has been a relatively under-developed sport in this area. Many of the attributes of hurling lend itself to cricket so potentially there is scope for the game to flourish in this area.
The last number of years has seen a number of clubs come into existence, such as Sligo, Letterkenny, Galway, Athlone, Castlebar and Limerick, and it would be my wish that the legacy of our 2011 World Cup campaign will be the development and growth of cricket in these provinces.
Personally, the biggest disappointment has been the lack of terrestrial television coverage of the game despite repeated pleas to our national broadcasters. With England coming to Dublin for the RSA Challenge — The Rematch — against Ireland, the game is virtually a sell-out following our heroics this week. But can only be seen on TV with the help of a satellite dish.
Live coverage remains out of bounds to terrestrial television but let’s hope that the powers that be in RTÉ can agree a highlights package so the Irish public who are at work or can’t get a ticket for the game can see it in the evening.
Back here in India, the whole squad believe they have at least one more great victory ahead of them. What better way to follow up the England win with another against the hosts tomorrow? As coach Phil Simmons said straight after the England game, this is not the end of our World Cup, it is only the beginning.
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