IT WAS ONE of Australian cricket’s most famous days — and three Irishmen were at the heart of the Ashes celebrations.
Promising young bowlers Graeme McCarter, Craig Young and Peter Chase partied with the victorious Aussies after they clinched their series whitewash in Sydney earlier this year.
The trio — who have all represented Ireland at underage level — were down under to work with bowling coach Craig McDermott.
They found themselves in the Sydney Cricket Ground as Australia regained the Ashes with only the third clean sweep in the match’s illustrious history.
“I had the three lads out from Ireland last year to work in the National Cricket Academy which went really well,” McDermott told this week’s episode of The Slog Sweep podcast.
“I spoke to [Australian coach] Darren Lehmann and Cricket Ireland about them flying around the country and experiencing bowling at the Australian team in practice.
“Then we won the series and the boys ended up in the winning dressing room.
“It was just an absolute bonus for the three lads. They just had a ball meeting all the players, not only our players but obviously the English players as well, and having a couple of cold beers which the Irish love!”
McDermott, who worked with Phil Simmons’s team before returning home to his native Australia, also tipped the Boys in Green to go well at next year’s World Cup.
“Simmo does a great job. He’s got the boys’ respect and I certainly loved working with Simmo as well through that T20 World Cup in 2012.
“I’m looking forward to seeing a few of the guys when they come out to the World Cup this year in January and February.
“I think some of their players will suit the Australian conditions.”
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Click here to listen to this week’s episode of The Slog Sweep, hosted by Mark Robinson and Andrew Leonard.
Bagenalstown Cricket Club in County Carlow features in Club Corner, and we also hear from Ireland U15 coach Simon Johnston who looks back on the U15 Interprovincials this week and Ireland Women’s Shauna Kavanagh who was in studio to chat about their successful weekend in Worcester.
