CHENNAI: Melbourne’s skies wore the colours of a funeral. It was black. Dank. Grim. Rainy. A taste of monsoon in the Spring thanks to a weather condition called 'La Nina'. The conditions, though, did little to dampen the mood of Ireland's victorious bunch who were celebrating with extended family and friends. They had earned those celebrations. They had just beaten the 'the best T20 team', to quote their captain, Andrew Balbirnie.
There's something about Ireland in ICC events. In 2007, Pakistan felt it. In 2010, they came so close to ruining England's best laid plans. A year later, they achieved what they set out to do in 2010. In 2015, they chased down West Indies' 305 but just about lost on qualifying for the quarterfinals thanks to Net Run Rate. From 2016, though, their fortunes, have slightly dipped. They were of course absent in 2019 as the ICC cut down the number of teams. In 2021, almost everything went wrong as the last remaining members of the 2007 batch bid adieu in the desert.
Down Under in 2022, it's looking good. Pretty damn good. People will point to Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) and the rain but Ireland did more than just compete. They got off to a strong start (2/103 after the first 12 overs) and targeted the bowling of Chris Woakes (0/31 in three overs) while ensuring Mark Wood didn't do too much damage (13 dots and three wickets but still taking 34 runs off him). Even if they fell away at the end, the first 10 overs had given them the proverbial 'something to bowl at' target.
When it was their turn to bowl, they kept it tight in the powerplay. Removing Jos Buttler for a two-ball zero also had big implications. In the end, they pulled through by five runs. But they were ahead for almost the entire duration of the game. So this win had little to do in terms of luck and almost everything to do in terms of execution of skills.
It's already their third win in Australia, matching their best ever World Cup in terms of wins (three in 2015). Put it this way. From the start of the last T20 World Cup, Ireland have won the same number of matches (four) and beaten the same number of full members as India (two) in World Cups (it's perhaps not the right comparison because Ireland have played two more games but that's beside the point considering the inequalities at play).
So, is this a new dawn for Ireland who looked so short of imagination a year ago in the UAE? Warren Deutrom, CEO of Cricket Ireland, hopes so. The ages of some of the players means Deutrom's assertion that 'we are looking at a new golden generation for Irish cricket' could be right. Curtis Campher, who took four wickets in as many balls against the Netherlands last year and has already contributed this year, is 23. New-ball swing bowler Little, who accounted for Buttler, is 22. Harry Tector is 22. Lorcan Tucker is 26. Fionn Hand is 24. So, the excitement in Deutrom's voice is understandable. "Our average age in the squad is about 25-26, a lot of young players are coming through now. You look at the likes of Tucker, Tector, Josh.. there are 4-5 guys whose average age is 22-23. Because of their youth, we are looking at a new golden generation for Irish cricket," he tells this daily.
The seeds for these results, Deutrom says, were sown in the summer. Their results weren't great (excluding Afghanistan): 0-7 in the T20Is (0-2 against India, 0-3 against New Zealand and 0-2 against South Africa) and 0-3 in the ODIs (all against South Africa). But Deutrom says the onus shifted from results to performances. "The clear target the team had was to reach the Super 12s. The key difference is a clear focus on performances. When you focus more on results, it's easy to become disappointed. Our squad is focused much more on performance. The seeds for this was sown during our summer. If you were to look at our results ledger, we lost 10 games, we didn't win any of them. However, one of the T20s, India scored 225 and we finished with 221. Two of the three ODIs against New Zealand were very close. Then, we played Afghanistan in a five-match T20 series and we beat them 3-2. What we have done here at the World Cup is a real vindication for our approach and all our guys have played exceptional cricket."
Speaking of Afghanistan, they are their next opponents on Friday.