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Cricket Ireland President Robin Walsh gives us his latest update, this time his diary describes the thrilling events in the Netherlands.
It’s quite remarkable how emotions can change so quickly. As the ball sailed high over skipper William Porterfield’s head for the last ball six that gave The Netherlands a never to be forgotten tie in Amsterdam, despair swept through Ireland’s ranks.
It was as though they had suffered defeat and their World Cup qualification was in jeopardy.

Within half an hour the mood had changed completely. In the quiet of the dressing room Phil Simmons and his men had taken stock: yet again they had qualified for the ICC World Cup, won the qualifying trophy outright and had just taken part in one of the most remarkable cricket matches that looked a lost cause for much of a balmy afternoon. They were now a pretty happy bunch as they basked in the media spotlight and mingled with the merry band of supporters who had travelled to see yet another chapter written into the history of Irish cricket.

Later in the evening it was to be party time after almost two weeks of hard work and dedication that had taken the players to the long-form Intercontinental Cup final in the UAE in December and to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015. You would be right to assume a good time was had by all.

Apart from the professionalism on the field, the most pleasurable aspect of touring with Ireland is to see, close up, the camaraderie off it.

There was a time when the team fragmented into little cliques, determined in the main by the geographic spread that was the NCU, the North West and Leinster areas.

Not so nowadays if the sojourn in Holland is anything to go by. This is a happy group that knows no boundary and their achievement on tour is proof positive.

First up, Deventer some 80 miles from Amsterdam and a resounding 279-win inside three of the four days to book that place in the Intercontinental Cup final. It also gave them an extra day off to enjoy friendships and the Dutch countryside on that most popular form of transport here: the bicycle.

They reckon 65 per cent of the population take to two wheels and the cricketers were enthusiastic converts as they made their way to and from the restaurants three miles from their hotel.

The birthday of Andrew White also pointed to a team spirit that most other squads would envy.

It was fitting his 33rd birthday came on the final day of the game when he top scored with 62 and completed his 223rd international, now just three fewer than the record holder, his close friend and former team-mate Kyle McCallan.

Fitting too that younger brother Richard and father Rowland were at the surprise birthday party immediately after the game, the latter on hand to picture the cutting of the cakes in his highly professional manner.

But the party was soon over for five of the squad which saw victory at Deventer.

Century maker John Anderson (Merrion), Andrew Balbirnie (Pembroke) Phil Eagleston (Waringstown)), Stuart Poynter (MCC Young Cricketers) and Stuart Thompson (Eglinton) were to make way for the county heavyweights now available for the two crucial World Cup qualifiers in Amsterdam.

Skipper William Porterfield (Warwickshire), Ed Joyce (Sussex), Gary Wilson (Surrey), Niall O’Brien (Leicestershire), and the Middlesex pair Paul Stirling and Tim Murtagh
flew in as emotional farewells were said by those going the other way.

The bulk of the World Cup squad have been together for so many campaigns that their interactions on and off the field are automatic. And we do well to remember that the team is under the most severe pressure every time it takes the field. If the ultimate aim of ICC Full Member status is to achieved, Ireland must prove time after time they are well and truly the top Associate country.

The manner in which that pressure is handled was there to be seen over the two games in Amsterdam.

In the first, a tricky situation was turned into a comfortable win, in the second what looked to be hopeless plight became a tie.

We could argue all day the “ifs and buts” of the tied game. At the end of it we would agree there was but one winner and that, of course, was the game itself.

It was why it was such a good party.

Cricket Ireland
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