‘Azhar Mahmood to bowl to Trent Johnston, one run needed for victory…and Trent Johnston clears the boundary, it’s going to be a six and the Irish fans are celebrating. The captain leaps around the ground, he’s thumping the air. Ireland have registered an incredible win here at Sabina Park in the Cricket World Cup. Ireland have knocked out the giants of cricket, Pakistan.’
IT NEVER GETS old, reliving that moment. The beady eyes of Trent Johnston fixed on the ball, a picture of unyielding concentration. One run to win, to beat Pakistan. This was it, the moment he, and the 14 other guys in the dressing room, had dreamt of.
Azhar Mahmood delivered a slower ball, Johnston picked it. He just had to clear the in-field and that was it. He launched it high over the leg side, almost like he used his nine-iron, and into the grassy banks of Sabina Park.
Even now, ten years on, it’s hard to process what happened that day. Ireland, a team of part-time amateurs and the minnows of the tournament, were not supposed to beat the fourth-best team in the world and dump them out of the World Cup.
Fairytales don’t often happen in sport, but St Patrick’s Day 2007 is about as close to one as you’ll ever get. An indelible, groundbreaking and defining day for Irish cricket. A day the team stood up, puffed its chest out and announced themselves on the world stage.
It was the upset of all upsets, a victory which came against all odds and acted as the catalyst for the exciting and ongoing development of the sport in this country over the last decade. Everything Ireland have done, and achieved, since then can all be traced back to that day in the Caribbean.
“It was the start of something special,” Johnston tells The42. “The start of an amazing journey and a day when the rest of the world sat up and took notice of us as a cricketing nation.”
A lot has changed for the better in the last decade, although re-watching those nail-biting last few overs and then the joyous scenes, shared between players, their family and the Irish support inside the ground, is a glorious throwback to those bygone amateur days for Irish cricket.
How could a team containing school teachers, farmers and postmen bring one of the sport’s powerhouses, with some of the most distinguished names in the game, to their knees on the biggest stage?
“Not a lot of people expected us to perform the way we did but the work we had done leading up to the tournament meant we were in a good space both individually and as a team,” Johnston continued.
“We played a tournament in Kenya at the start of that year and finished second last. For me, that was the catalyst or turning point. It gave us a real kick up the bum and we then trained bloody hard leading into the World Cup.”
With Johnston as the talismanic and influential leader, Adi Birrell was very much the brains behind the operation. The South African, who had been appointed as head coach in 2002, was tasked with elevating the national team to unprecedented heights whilst working under huge limitations.
The first few years were a struggle, as the team were forced to feed off scraps and little or no exposure meant the opportunities for progression were restricted but Birrell was able to cultivate a real belief within the set-up.
“Adi created that belief, not just the day before that win but he created that belief when he first came to Cricket Ireland,” Johnston explained. “We knew it was going to be difficult, but we had nothing to lose.”
A 73-run victory over Denmark in Bangor in July 2005 sealed Ireland’s place in the 2007 World Cup, the first time the team had qualified for the showpiece tournament. They would go onto lose the ICC Trophy final to Scotland later that month but the primary objective had been achieved.
Birrell had started to build his team and over the course of the next two years, victories over county sides in the English domestic one-day competition built confidence heading into the World Cup period. It was all starting to come together.
For the first few months of 2007, Birrell was able to work with his players without interruption and the 15-man squad were immersed in cricket on a largely full-time basis after Cricket Ireland, or the Irish Cricket Union as they were back then, were able to negotiate time off work with each of the players’ employers.
“We were able to prepare like the major nations and we put in a lot of time that gave the players the belief we were actually competing on an equal footing rather than coming in as a minnow and undercooked,” Birrell explains.
The warm-up games also gave great grounds for optimism. Ireland had South Africa wobbling at 91/8 in their first outing and although they eventually lost by 35 runs, it proved the players could compete at that level.
They headed into the opening game of the campaign, against Zimbabwe, coming off the back of a seven-wicket win over fellow Associate nation Canada. Spirits were understandably high.
“We were raring to go and this was our chance to shine,” Birrell said. “We performed very well in the warm-up games, that gave our bowling group a lot of confidence and we knew if they had that going into games, we knew our batting had enough depth to potentially get us over the line.
“The first game against Zimbabwe was huge. We had won that game twice, then lost it twice and eventually ended up coming away with a tie. It was a huge result as we then knew if we could somehow overturn Pakistan we would be through to the Super 8s.”
Two days after that dramatic game against Zimbabwe, Ireland returned to Sabina Park on 17 March. They were greeted by an unusually green-tinged pitch, which Birrell and Johnston knew would suit their tactics.
“The day that was in it, luck was on our side but we also played some bloody good cricket,” the former captain says. “Pakistan were extremely surprised to see the wicket. It was the only green, seaming wicket throughout that whole World Cup.
“We were really buoyed that we were playing on a surface that suited us and not them.”
In the previous game, Ireland managed to defend 221 against Zimbabwe and it was no secret that their formula was to bowl first against the higher-ranked sides and apply the squeeze with the ball.
Johnston called correctly and Ireland won the toss. Bowl first, no doubt about that.
“I was lucky I won that toss,” he recalls. “Pakistan have a history of being dismissed for small totals if you get on top of them and we managed to do that. We were a bunch of amateurs going to a World Cup and we had absolutely nothing to lose.
“We had the support of family and friends and other Irish supporters around the world. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain and when you send any sports team or person out in that environment well you’re generally going to get the best out of them and that’s what the world saw that day.”
Birrell adds: “Every team that plays against a lesser side there is an incredible pressure on them. It doesn’t surprise me that we were able to turn them [Pakistan] over as that pressure does exist and we had no pressure whatsoever. There were no expectation on us winning a match so we were able to play with so much freedom.”
And that’s exactly what they did. Ireland were inspired that day, and used conditions brilliantly to dismantle Pakistan’s much-vaunted batting order.
Dave Langford-Smith and Boyd Rankin moved the ball around on the seamer-friendly surface and struck twice to set the tone. As each wicket fell, Ireland grew in stature and the intensity in the field soared.
“It was a day we’d prepared very well for, I think we sort of took them by surprise as we’d worked a long time for that match,” Birrell explains.
“We prepared very well and were very much ready for the game. We put them under pressure early and were able to maintain that throughout match. I don’t think they prepared very well for us and definitely underestimated us.”
Just when Pakistan, through Imran Nazir and Mohammad Yousuf, threatened to rebuild and take the sting out of Ireland’s early onslaught, Johnston brought himself into the attack.
He struck almost instantly to remove Yousuf and Ireland never let up from there. With wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien standing up to the stumps, the medium pace bowlers unwavering in their line and length and a faultless fielding display to back it up, Pakistan had no answers.
It was a simple formula but, as Johnston says, cricket is a simple game which is often unnecessarily complicated. That team, under Birrell’s guidance, put it all together when it mattered most.
“We knew if we could restrict teams, we had the chance to go and chase down that total,” Johnston said. “Bowl first and keep it tight. It was a simple plan, cricket is a simple game which is complicated at times.
“Everyone was loving it, it was great to be part of. Smiles on everyone’s faces, celebrating each other’s success. It was a great time to be there and they’re the moments as an amateur you realise all that hard work you’ve done, pre-work or after work or at weekends is worth it. They’re the moments you do that for.
“Those 15 guys will always have that as we did it all together. We were just loving it, I don’t think it will ever be topped in Irish cricket.”
Birrell admits he knew something special was on the cards three-quarters of the way through Pakistan’s innings.
“Invariably you have a partnership but they never got a partnership going and I kept thinking they’re going to get one going, they’re going to get one going but they never did and didn’t get a big total. It was then when I realised we could actually achieve something.”
Ireland, the minnows and underdogs, had bowled Pakistan out for 132 inside 46 overs.
“The guys were calm and cool and they enjoyed playing in front of the world, guys puffing their chest out and wanting to be the match winner on that stage for Ireland,” Johnston says.
“I think when you can get an amateur going into a professional world and he has the chance to show what he can do against hundreds of millions of people, something special happens and that’s what happened that day.”
But the job was only half done. Pakistan’s bowling attack was fierce and if Ireland could cause that level of destruction in those conditions, Bob Woolmer’s side could do just as much; Johnston knew that and he delivered a rousing speech to his troops in the dressing room at half time.
“It was nothing, it just came to me,” he says of that now famous rallying call. “Adi is cool and calm and I thought it was time I’d give these blokes a bit of a rev up or a rocket because we had performed bloody well the first 50 overs.
“We had to go out and back ourselves, be aggressive. We go out and win this game of cricket and we’re staying in the Caribbean for another four weeks. What an amazing opportunity for these guys to travel around the Caribbean and play seven more games in a World Cup. To dig in and bat for 50 overs like you’d never batted before was basically the message I wanted to get across.
“There were a few expletives in there but I always wore my heart on my sleeve and I was very passionate about that. I knew how hard we worked and how hard Adi had planned and we were so close we just couldn’t let it go.”
A solid start was essential, but Ireland lost opener Jeremy Bray, who had scored a century against Zimbabwe, and Eoin Morgan in the opening six overs. 15/2. Nerves.
“We knew if someone could get 60/70 that night we’d win,” Birrell continues. “Someone had to dig deep, drop anchor and put the innings together and Niall O’Brien did that, he played the innings of his life.
“There was no indication in the build-up that he was going to play an innings like that as he wasn’t in form but we knew he could to that on the big stage, and he did it.”
O’Brien produced a superb rearguard action as he carefully constructed a priceless half-century to inch Ireland towards victory and leave it to his brother, Kevin, and Johnston to get the team over the line.
“I just remember thinking that I was staying there, if they had an opportunity they weren’t going to get me out,” Johnston says. “It was going to take something special to get me out that day.
“We lost a couple of quick wickets and I’m walking down the steps to go onto the field and the heart starts racing. That’s what you train for, that’s why you’re in an indoor net with the bowling machine facing 90mph bouncers. You just have to put your skill into practice.
“Kevin was quite subdued out there and knew the task in hand and we just kind of went about it. All of a sudden 10 runs became six runs and I saw this ball which came out of the back of Mahmood’s hand and the field was all up so I thought if I get half a bat on this, it will go and lucky enough it did.
“Lucky it didn’t go straight up in the air as I’m not sure Lanky [Langford-Smith] or Boyd would have got us there. Lanky might have but I’m not sure about big Boyd!”
Johnston was in control of Ireland’s destiny in the middle but for Birrell, who had committed his life to Irish cricket for the previous five years, it was agonising to watch.
“I didn’t hold it together at all, to be quite honest,” he says. “I separated myself from the players as I didn’t trust myself to be calm. I actually watched it from a TV inside the changing room and at that stage I wasn’t calm at all. I don’t know how we got over the line, I wasn’t calm but the players managed to keep it together thankfully.
“When Trent hit the winning runs the overriding emotion was relief because you kept thinking we’d come up short. Like most Associate teams, they’ve been close before and never quite got over the line and this was the first time we managed to get over the line so it was a great relief and then pure elation.”
“It was just the sense of achievement. You take tremendous responsibility in leading a team and delivering on that promise I had made was very special. It will always be with me.”
With thousands of Irish supporters from around the world inside Sabina Park that day, the scenes on the pitch and then the dressing room afterwards will forever be remembered. A sea of green in the Caribbean.
“I was glad my parents and family were there, they had obviously sacrificed a lot for me over the years and to have them there on the biggest day of my sporting career was very special,” Johnston adds. “It was an amazing time and I have a father-son like relationship with Adi and still do and to see the success we brought him was another thing that went through my mind. Those guys will always cherish those memories.
“I was hauled straight off to do media after the game and the boys were around family and obviously there were a few drinks floating around so by the time I’d got back, all the drink had been finished so the boys were half pickled.
“It was all masterminded by Adi, he knew after the first year he came here what he needed to do for us to succeed. He was a genius to mastermind that.”
Birrell had already made the decision that he would step away from Irish cricket after the World Cup, and he would guide Ireland to another famous win over Bangladesh in the next round of the tournament.
“There was a calmness, confidence and a belief that we could do something special,” he remembers of his time in charge. “There was a belief throughout. We didn’t go there just to make up the numbers, we went there with a genuine belief we could compete.
“We tried to get to the Super 8s. Some of the guys even said it to me even said to me they went with a dream of winning the World Cup. It was an unrealistic dream but if you aim high, you might not get there, you’ll get along way towards it. Ambition is the big word, the team was very ambitious but it was also very talented.”
The role Birrell has played in the transformation and evolution of Irish cricket cannot be understated and that famous day in 2007 was the defining one for the sport on these shores. It was the breakthrough moment.
That one result changed the fortune of the team and catapulted a previously minority sport onto the front and back pages of every newspaper in the country. Suddenly, everyone knew Ireland had a cricket team.
“We had no idea the impact it was going to make,” Johnston admits. “It wasn’t until we got home and we saw all the newspapers and headlines. Then it really sunk in.
“You’re probably recognised in Tesco and Dunnes and these sorts of places for about three weeks after it and obviously the Late Late Show was great publicity for us.
“That sort of thing doesn’t often happen. We worked hard at the things we needed to improve on and we worked bloody hard and that reflected in our performances. The whole world saw what we could do during those sevens weeks.
“Those 15 guys and the coaching staff will always have that connection. The resolve, brotherhood and camaraderie. To captain those guys and achieve what we did, it was incredible.”
The Caribbean will forever hold sentimental memories for Irish cricket.
That achievement must surely rank highly in the pantheon of great Irish sporting upsets, and indeed victories. Munster beating the All Backs in 1978, Jack Charlton’s Ireland stunning Italy at USA ’94 and St Patrick’s Day 2007.
“I’d like to be around to see the day that’s beaten by an Irish cricket team because it would be a massive occasion,” Johnston adds.
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