This is greatest Irish team, boasts manager

Manager Roy Torrens on Monday hailed the Ireland team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament in South Africa as the best to represent the country.

“They are even better than the side that shocked Pakistan and Bangladesh at the last World Cup,” said the man involved for 40 years with the national team as a player, selector, official and manager.

So serious were Ireland that the players readily accepted a ban on alcohol and carbonated drinks during the 19-day tournament and there were daily breathalsyer tests on the team bus en route to matches and training.

“Not one player failed a test. All they drank from the start of the tournament until after the final was still water and it obviously worked wonders,” Torrens told AFP.

Ireland finished the five-match first phase of the Qualifier with a 100 percent record, topped the second-stage Super 8 table, and crushed Canada by nine wickets in the final on Sunday.

The Irish were also the first country to clinch a ticket to the World Cup in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka with Canada, Netherlands and Kenya following 48 hours later.

Torrens said there was no secret behind the “green machine” success, just 100 percent commitment from the 15 players, West Indian coach Phil Simmons and the back-up staff.

As the last winter approached in Ireland and temperatures plummeted, the 10 part-time squad members vowed to leave their families and friends each weekend and attend two-day camps.

OHANNESBURG, AFP