Ireland cricket: 'For Bready to get the West Indies is huge'
It is a village of just a few hundred people, yet it is going to host to one of the major cricket teams in the world. Magheramason, in County Tyrone, is the home of Bready Cricket Club where the West Indies are seeking revenge against Ireland for a sore that has lasted more than half a century.The last time the two sides faced off in the north west was back in 1969 at Sion Mills, when Ireland recorded a historic victory over the "Windies" by bowling them out for just 25 runs.Now, weather-permitting, thousands will attend three T20 matches between the teams on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, with many more around the world watching on TV.
Chairman of Bready Cricket Club Norman Allen said the bigger games tend to go to Dublin and Belfast, so for them to get the West Indies was "huge"."We are determined to show Cricket Ireland that we can put on cricket as good as anybody," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.Ossie Colhoun, 87, from Sion Mills, was Ireland's wicketkeeper in the clash against the West Indies 56 years ago."The ground was completely packed, there was maybe 3,000 people because this was a really big deal to have the West Indies here," he said.As the local boy, he was tasked with taking the West Indies team to their hotel in Lifford, County Donegal.This led to speculation that Ossie had taken the team for a drink and that that was why they were off their game the next day."When we went over the bar was closed, they got no drink at all," he insisted.Ossie will be at the match on Saturday to ring the bell.
'Mops and brushes'
The final preparations to get the cricket ground ready have been taking place all week.Kathryn Rough, the interim general manager for the North West Cricket Union, said it was all hands to the pump."We've got people who normally work in finance and people who go out coaching dressing curtains, running around with mops and brushes, everybody is prepared to help," she said.In addition to the matches, there are corporate events, a kids zone and a food village showcasing local produce.The half-time entertainment will be Irish and Scottish dancers and bagpipes."It is stressful but it is really exciting, we are all really invested," added Kathryn.
However, the biggest pressure is probably being felt by Trevor Hamilton, who is in charge of making sure the ground is in peak condition."I would say my sleep at night isn't the same as usual, so it comes with a lot of nerves," he said."But I've been a lifelong member of Bready Cricket Club and so it's an immense honour to be hosting Ireland and the West Indies."Ironically, Bready's cricket colours are similar to the West Indies kit.That is because the people who set up the club loved the West Indies and were inspired by their culture of cricket."For this club to actually be able to host the West Indies is really special for all the cricketers here, but also for the local people to have international sport on their doorstep," added Kathryn Rough.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
'Nearly a dream', Argentina's Contepomi basks in unique Lions win
DUBLIN, June 20 (Reuters) - Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi knew just how special and potentially unique Friday's victory over the British and Irish Lions was, having gone agonisingly close as a player two decades ago. Contepomi was captain when the sides last met before the Lions' 2005 tour of New Zealand, when the Pumas were a Johnny Wilkinson stoppage time penalty away from a first ever victory in the fixture. That game ended in a 25-25 draw, and Friday's contest was just Argentina's second shot at the Lions in almost a century. Their first six meetings were played during tours of Argentina when the Lions did not limit their itinerary to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Contepomi said they could not be sure when they would get the opportunity again. "It's kind of a one-off. It's an invitation game and the last time, it was 20 years ago, and we were just there and we couldn't beat them," Contepomi told a press conference. "Coming here 20 years later I think it's incredible. We don't know if we'll ever again be invited or not to play and definitely for everyone who's been involved this week it will be memorable." "It is special. I know how special it is for an Irish, a Scottish, a Welsh or an English player to be a Lion, and for us to play against the best of the best in these islands, it's nearly a dream." The former Argentina flyhalf, who knows British and Irish rugby well, having spent six seasons with Leinster and worked as a doctor during his time in Ireland, said he expected Australia to face a far more ferocious set of Lions next month. "We took a bit of an opportunity because I know they'll be much better in one month's time when they play Australia. They'll be an awesome team, because they have so much quality in there," he said.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
'No excuses' says Lions coach Farrell after Argentina loss
DUBLIN, June 20 (Reuters) - Coach Andy Farrell had hoped for a tough game against Argentina before the British and Irish Lions boarded their flight for Australia and said his still gelling squad had no excuses after getting more than they bargained for in a 28-24 defeat. "We made it a tough game," a forthright Farrell said when asked if he got the kind of stern test he wanted and that the group's limited time together was no kind of mitigating factor. "I wouldn't give that excuse. We need to be better than that. They're Lions players." While Farrell said he was pleased with the Lions' aggressive scrummaging, the list of areas to improve was long: a "clunky" attack, breakdown, misfiring lineout, kicking game, throwing balls blindly away and battles in the air and on the ground. "It's too much, it's too much when it all comes together... The whole story of the game is that we compounded too many errors and in the end we weren't able to put the pace on the game that we wanted to because of that," Farrell said. "We need to be honest because if we're not honest, how do we gain trust with each other so we have to say it as it is. There were certain things that we said we were going to do and we need to own that." "Losing hurts, especially in this jersey so we need to find the solutions pretty quickly." Farrell had said he expected the Lions to have a fully fit squad in the next week with Jamison Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan and Huw Jones working their way back to fitness, and at least appeared to come away unscathed on Friday. "Health wise we seem to have come away okay," he said. Centre Bundee Aki, one of the Lions' try scorers who said he was disappointed in his own performance and not connecting better with new centre partner Sione Tuipulotu, said Farrell had been just as forthright in the changing room. "He gives it to us straight, there's no mucking around and we're old enough to take it on the chin. Faz (Farrell) set out a challenge for us to win every game and we've just got to learn quickly," the Irish number 12 said. "You can feel the frustration of the boys in the changing room. (But) that's the great thing about rugby, there's always another couple of days to be able to rectify what was wrong so I'm sure we'll bounce back quickly as a group."
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Lions must learn from errors in Pumas loss
Head coach Andy Farrell says the British and Irish Lions must learn "a lot of lessons" from a "disconnected" performance in Friday's 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin as they prepare to embark on their Australian tour. The Lions' hopes for victory in their first game on Irish soil were dashed by a slick Pumas side, who scored breakaway tries through Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz and Santiago Cordero to secure a deserved first win over the hosts at the eighth attempt. Farrell's side travel on Saturday and must regroup in time for their tour opener against Western Force in Perth on 28 June. "We made it a tough game," said Farrell, who was taking charge of his first Lions game."The first and appropriate thing to say is congratulations to Argentina, they thoroughly deserved to win. They capitalised very well on quite a few errors from us, so congratulations and I'm sure that's a big moment in Argentina's history." Bundee Aki and Tadhg Beirne scored tries for the Lions, who were also awarded a penalty try early in the second half, but it was not enough to beat the world's fifth-ranked team. "You can try and throw it all around and say we had plenty of opportunities and we should have done better, but the story of the game is we compounded too many errors and weren't able to put the pace on the game that we wanted to because of that," added Lions travelled to Portugal for a week-long training camp before facing Argentina, but when asked if the squad has not had enough time together, Farrell said he "wouldn't give that excuse". "We need to be better than that. It is what it is," he added."The Lions players are good players coming together. We ask a lot of them and maybe we put too much pressure on the side because it certainly looked like we were a bit disconnected at times. "We'll review what we said we were going to own and we need to make sure we get something positive from that because it's all about how we move forward." 'Some players will be happy, others won't' Given that Farrell was without the sizeable portion of his squad who contested domestic finals last weekend - Ronan Kelleher being the sole exception - Friday's game against the Pumas was a chance for some to stake an early claim for Test selection. And when asked what positives he could draw from the defeat, Farrell said "some people will have done themselves proud" without singling out any players."They'll be hurting for the team because they're all team players," he added."Some players will be happy, others won't and will be dying to get another chance, but look we know where we're at, we're under way so we need to learn a lot of lessons from that." The Lions fielded 14 debutants on Friday and a new captain in Maro Itoje, who described his first outing as skipper as a "spectacular occasion" before echoing Farrell's downbeat comments about the performance. "We gave ourselves numerous opportunities but we weren't accurate enough at times and weren't consistent enough in putting pressure under Argentina," said Itoje. "As we improve our relationships and spend more time together in training and understanding each other's triggers, it'll come. "There are no excuses. We should have been better today but as with other areas of the game, we'll learn and get better together." Line-ups British and Irish Lions: Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, Duhan van der Merwe; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Finlay Bealham, Maro Itoje (capt), Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Ben Ronan Kelleher, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Cummings, Henry Pollock, Tomos Williams, Elliot Daly, Mack Santiago Carreras; Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy; Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Garcia; Mayco Vivas, Julian Montoya (capt), Joel Sclavi, Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin OviedoReplacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Santiago Grondona, Joaquin Moro, Simon Benitez Cruz, Matias Moroni, Santiago CorderoSin-bin: Vivas 45Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) and Andrea Piardi (Italy)TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
