There was no more fitting way to end 2013 than with the sight of Trent Johnston hoisting the Intercontinental Cup Trophy towards the azure sky in Dubai. Trent had led Ireland to their first World trophy eight years ago and he brought the curtain down on his career in celebrating Ireland’s 10th World triumph.
There will be universal delight at the news that Trent has accepted the roles of Ireland women’s coach and fast bowling coach at the National Academy. The retirement of Johnston from the International playing arena brings to an end the careers of the four men from the southern hemisphere that collectively was primarily instrumental in changing the course of cricket in Ireland.
Between them, Trent Johnston, Andre Botha, Jeremy Bray and Dave Langford-Smith played 465 matches for their adopted country and they aggregated 9349 runs, 514 wickets and took 183 catches. However these bare statistics alone only scratch the surface of their influence on a journey that, if there is any cricketing justice, has taken Ireland to within one more blow of smashing through the cracked glass ceiling that separates Ireland from Full Member status.
It is only ten years ago that Ireland’s season included fixtures against the might of the Free Foresters, the Duke of Norfolk’s XI and the Club Cricket Conference in exotic venues such as Shenley, Eton College and Arundel Castle. The highlight of the season was a trip to Lords to play an MCC XI, although the prospect of the best lunch on the cricket circuit was probably as much if not more of an attraction. The opposition were generally made up of club cricketers, supplemented by the odd ex-county player and occasionally a former Test player who was closer to his pension than his potential.
Into this scenario stepped Botha, Johnston and Bray. Having been nurtured in the fiercely competitive club scene in South Africa and Australia the prospect of a continuous diet of what to them was barely a step up from social cricket didn’t set their pulses racing. The arrival on the scene of Adi Birrell as Ireland coach in 2002 transformed the culture of Ireland cricket as he garnered the talents of his three Leinster club professionals, later supplemented by Dave Langford-Smith, and used them as his cornerstone in revolutionising cricket in Ireland. Their hard-nosed will to win and hunger for genuine International recognition inspired a generation of home bred players to emulate the professionalism of their mentors.
Of course there were many very talented players from previous generations, players who if they were in their prime now would walk into the Ireland team but their time was in an amateur era. Birrell pointed to his southern hemisphere charges and told the home grown players to follow their example and Ireland could beat teams from the top table. West Indies in 2007 validated his claim as a group of largely part time cricketers made the cricket world sit up and take notice.
The catalyst for those triumphs was the on field inspiration of Johnston and co. The concern after the Caribbean adventure was that this might be a one off, the mountain had been climbed and now it was time to come down the other side. While Ireland had achieved unimaginable success, Adi Birrell had gone home and a lot of the players had to compromise between full time jobs and part time cricket.
However Birrell’s successor as Ireland coach was Phil Simmons, not just a first class cricketer as Birrell was but a Test and ODI player with numerous caps for the West Indies. Simmons has taken Ireland to a new level and ensured that there are more mountains to be scaled. His appointment coincided with the restructuring of what had been the effectively amateur administration of the Irish Cricket Union into the professional structure that is Cricket Ireland. With the appointment of Warren Deutrom as Chief Executive Ireland have top level professionals managing both the cricket and the administrative path to the ultimate goal of full member status.
The continuity between the dressing room and the transition of coaches was managed by Roy Torrens whose jovial demeanour concealed an inner steel that transgressors discovered to their cost but he has always retained the respect of the players. There is now a video analyst, a fitness coach and nutritional advice. No longer will there be a situation from another era when a prominent player was sustained on an African trip by a diet of bananas and whisky.
Dave Langford-Smith retired from International cricket in 2008, followed in 2009 by Jeremy Bray. Andre Botha stayed until after the 2011 World Cup leaving Trent Johnston as the sole survivor until last Friday. Their legacy is a team that has won ten World trophies and respect in World cricket. They have inspired the likes of William Porterfield, the O’Brien brothers, John Mooney, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson and George Dockrell and turned them into leaders. Without the influence of our southern hemisphere quartet would Ed Joyce have returned home or would Tim Murtagh and Max Sorensen have had the drive to step into Johnston’s shoes?
When Ireland finally reaches the Promised Land the part played by Johnston, Botha, Bray and Langford-Smith deserves to be writ large when handing out accolades to those who led the trek.
Last Friday in Dubai Ireland’s march towards a unique treble of three ICC World Trophies in the same calendar year was being jeopardized by a partnership between the Afghan captain, Mohammad Nabi and the 20 year old Rahmat Shah. They had added over a hundred runs and were more than halfway to their target of 347. Three years ago Nabi played a significant role in chasing down 494 against Canada so repeating the task didn’t intimidate him.
Then a strange thing happened. Niall O’Brien had been chirping away from behind the stumps without seemingly unsettling the batsmen. As I watched the live stream I became aware of someone singing which I initially thought was interference from another channel. Then it dawned on me that Niall had started to serenade young Shah who turned to Niall with a bemused look on his face. The bemused look transformed into a broad grin at the incongruity of what was happening. The Ireland slip cordon also had beaming smiles on their faces. The tension had gone and the consequent relaxation led to soft hands and soft hands generally make slip catches a lot easier.
Max Sorensen made the breakthrough and then John Mooney induced three edges that were safely pouched and Ireland were home and dry.
Those few moments sum up the value of Niall O’Brien as a wicketkeeper in this Ireland team. He has the ability to change the mood with words as well as actions. There is no question that Gary Wilson is a good keeper, possibly the second best at Associate level, but there are few who would deny that Niall is the best. Unfortunately it would seem that Ireland coach Phil Simmons is one of those few. Indeed it is likely that Niall wouldn’t have being playing if Gary hadn’t gone down with a virus on the eve of the match as Simmons had broadly hinted that John Anderson would be retaining his place in this format.
Niall’s absence would have meant that the top scorer in the match would probably have carried the drinks. He also held five catches, two of which were full length dives at pivotal moments, and he effected two stumping’s. As good as he is there is no guarantee that Gary would have emulated that performance. The reality is Niall keeps wicket every week in County cricket while Gary rarely does for Surrey. Gary is clearly a better outfielder than Niall so Ireland are losing out on both counts.
The wicket keeping role was removed from Niall after he chose to go to play in the BPL in 2012 thus missing an I Cup match against Kenya. Subsequently he was left out of the squad altogether and missed the World T20 2012 Qualifiers. In the recent T20 Qualifiers in UAE he was dropped after a slow innings against Uganda and never regained his place. Phil Simmons must be one of the few people who believes that James Shannon is a more valuable asset to the Ireland team than Niall.
If there is a problem between Phil and Niall then they need to sit down and resolve it for the sake of the team which must have a higher priority than any individual.
Ironically the other player who seemed likely to be left out of the final was John Mooney, who by his own admission did not expect to play only for Tim Murtagh’s late withdrawal. Mooney of course was Man of the Match and stepped up particularly when Trent Johnston went off injured. John and Niall are perhaps more individualistic than other members of the squad and have both had their spells out of the team. However their performances last week enhances their claims for a place next time Ireland takes to the field.
In my last column of the year I will be reviewing the performances of yet another memorable year in the story that is Team Ireland.