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Cricket Ireland President Robin Walsh gives the very latest update from inside the Irish camp in Jamaica, who came so close but yet so far to a famous series win over the West Indies at Sabina Park on Friday evening.
KINGSTON: FEB 23, 2014

There are times when it’s difficult to know what to say and maybe it’s better to say nothing. And so it was on the players’ balcony at Sabina Park when Ireland went down by a mere 11 runs to allow the West Indies to draw the two
T20 match series. No words, just a consoling pat of the back for each member of a devastated squad.

It was all the more difficult to swallow given a brilliant bowling display that had reduced the reigning T20 world champions to 96-9. Victory was not automatic on a pitch that was yielding very few runs, yet confidence was high. But to no avail and fair play to a West Indian side under extreme pressure to save face after their six wicket defeat in the first match. Their bowling, fielding and field setting were of the highest order, somewhat unlike the Ireland batting.

To say the Ireland players were dismayed is something of an understatement. Back in the hotel I shared a lift with Alex Cusack who had bowled magnificently for the remarkable figures of 4-11 off his four overs. The pain was plain to see and had lessened little the next morning when I coincidentally took the same lift to breakfast. It was no consolation that he had been named Man of the Series with overall bowling figures of 6-28 off eight.

In contrast to the mood of 48 hours before, there had been silence on the coach from the ground and no merriment back in the hotel. Cricket Ireland chairman Ross McCollum and the chairman of the selectors Alan Lewis can’t ever remember going to bed at half seven on a Friday night.

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A different mood among the West Indians, the collective sense of relief palpable as handshakes were exchanged at the close of play. Little wonder the headline in one of the Jamaican dailies was to blazen the next day “PHEW!”. And similarly among the many VIPs, including former Prime Minister, PJ Patterson, and one Courtney Walsh after whom one of the bowlers’ ends is named. I first met the legendary fast bowler over dinner in Belfast a year or two ago when he visited the city to promote tourism in his native Jamaica. For some reason he’s never forgotten my name…..

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Surely things will brighten up with an Ireland win over England at Twickenham. Not to be as the players sit round the big screen to see another comeback at the expense of Irish sport. Learnt a thing or two about rugb though as you would surrounded by experts: Alan Lewis of international refereeing fame; team physio Andy Dunne formerly out half for Leinster and Connaught and Gary Wilson whom I remember as a fine schoolboy player at Methodist College in Belfast.

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Michelle Hussey is a member of one of Jamaica’s leading entrepreneurial families whose portfolio includes sugar estates, rum distilleries, horse breeding, pharmacies and hotels. She and her mother Ruth are legendary hostesses in their Terra Nova luxury boutique in central Kingston which Michelle runs with her American partner David Banmiller, Part of Michelle’s education was in Ireland and she and David now flit between Kingston and their apartment in Malahide. When news of the Ireland team’s visit reached them, there was an immediate invitation to the Terra Nova for the most pleasant of evenings. Next day we introduced David Banmiller to his first cricket match: despite the result, such was his enjoyment you can expect to see him at Malahide during summer visits.

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About to leave for Sabina Park and the ODI climaxto the Caribbean odyssey. The 50-over game is the real test of the limited form of cricket and the West Indies will be desperate to end the overall series at 2-1. Ireland will be keen to reinforce what undoubtedly has been a successful return to their old stomping ground of Sabina Park. It would also make for a more pleasant return home tomorrow.

Robin Walsh
No
Connaught