Jamaica Diary

TrueDub

It's a good thing that Boards isn't a voice-operated message board, because I'm unable to speak out loud today. My cricket cap also has a hole in it where I bit through it while watching the last over....

Life in Jamaica is pretty cool at the moment. The hotel where the majority of the Irish fans are staying (Jamaica Grand in Ochos Rios) is top-notch, and the fans are making the most of the all-inclusive arrangements, resulting in many a session and singsong.

One of the less-enjoyable facets is the travelling to Kingston - 3 hours to do 90 kilometres is not fun, and the driving would remind you of a 9-year-old boy playing Gran Turismo on his Playstation.

Sabina Park itself is magnificent, even if Kingston isn't, and the welcome we've received has been overwhelming.

The match yesterday had absolutely everything - the entire range of emotions were felt throughout a pulsating day. Some people at home have expressed the feeling that "it wasn't a win", but this misses the enormity of the achievement.

The team emerged to greet family, friends and fans behind the North Stand after the game, and hugs and tears were the order of the day.

Tomorrow will be a different scenario, and we need to field much much better, bat better (apart from Jeremy who was magnificent) and bowl tight. If that happens, and Pakistan come under pressure, who knows...

I'll report again on Sunday - the bar has a rum & coke with my name on it...

Signing off from Ochee,

TrueDub

mikeruurds

TrueDub wrote:

It's a good thing that Boards isn't a voice-operated message board, because I'm unable to speak out loud today. My cricket cap also has a hole in it where I bit through it while watching the last over....

Life in Jamaica is pretty cool at the moment. The hotel where the majority of the Irish fans are staying (Jamaica Grand in Ochos Rios) is top-notch, and the fans are making the most of the all-inclusive arrangements, resulting in many a session and singsong.

One of the less-enjoyable facets is the travelling to Kingston - 3 hours to do 90 kilometres is not fun, and the driving would remind you of a 9-year-old boy playing Gran Turismo on his Playstation.

Sabina Park itself is magnificent, even if Kingston isn't, and the welcome we've received has been overwhelming.

The match yesterday had absolutely everything - the entire range of emotions were felt throughout a pulsating day. Some people at home have expressed the feeling that "it wasn't a win", but this misses the enormity of the achievement.

The team emerged to greet family, friends and fans behind the North Stand after the game, and hugs and tears were the order of the day.

Tomorrow will be a different scenario, and we need to field much much better, bat better (apart from Jeremy who was magnificent) and bowl tight. If that happens, and Pakistan come under pressure, who knows...

I'll report again on Sunday - the bar has a rum & coke with my name on it...

Signing off from Ochee,

TrueDub

I can relate to the driving We saw three cars passing each other three astride on the minor road from Negril to Black River a few months back. The driving in Jamaica is nuts!!

Thanks for keeping us poor sods in Ireland up to date with the fans' experiences in JA.

Don't forget to do the Dolphin swim experience in Ocho!

Mike

P.S. I'm surprised you could rustle up a rum & coke. Our hotel only had Pepsi! JA is Pepsi land. It isn't the same I tells ya.

county

the phrase "i was there" springs to mind.you lucky sod;)
so whats the mood like in camp(fans)about the game tomorrow?

dereko1969

saturday has to go down as one of the most amazing sporting achievements by an irish team/sportsperson ever, okay the pakistanis didn't play brilliantly but our bowling (andre botha is a genius) and our fielding (porterfield is the new jonty!) were top drawer. i watched the pakistani innings in the party stand and it was just raucous, every stop, every wicket being cheered to high heaven. i was too nervous to watch our innings there as you couldn't see the main scoreboard from there so i moved to another stand and kept on saying when we're getting safe i'll move back to the party stand, never got back there i felt i was going to puke at any moment the nerves were so intense. the team all came back to truedubs hotel for a great night, they obviously have a great team spirit they were all hanging out with each other and talking to everyone who wanted a word or to congratulate them. i'm so thrilled i actually decided to come over for this once in a lifetime trip, pity i'm not so loaded that i could afford to head to guyana! anyways, getting nervous not that the zimboes have posted 202, the windies don't really look up for this game but we really need them to beat the zimboes or all our dreams of the super eights could lie in tatters. just have to say as well that everyone out here was totally shocked by bob woolmers death, he was out very quickly to congratulate the irish team and a couple of journos here had met him on the friday night and said he was a sound man, very very sad.

DMC

I love the reports of the boardsies in Jamaica, its great to see.

There are a lot of people cheering in pubs and hotels around the country, the country is really behind the team. If you see the players tell them is huge news back here. It was front of the tabloids and the broadsheets this morning (and those that went to print later on Sunday)

latenia

Dereko: are you Brian's brother?

dereko1969

yep i'm brian's brother for my sins, not that he's taking much interest in the cricket, don't think he watched any of it, if he had apparently he'd have seen me a couple of times in the party stand against pakistan. really hoping pakistan will show up and play properly and beat zimbabwe, don't want this to go to net run rate. my mates here are trying to get flights to guyana for the super eights and apparently they're nearly all booked up so looks like there's a second wave of fans coming over to replace me and a few others who don't have the dosh or the leave to keep on going. it's a pity the games are so spread out in the super eights. who knows, maybe i'll head home then come back for the two games in barbados!!

DMC

It sounds mighty expensive....

Journalists are being stung over there for over priced phone and internet charges, it seems...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/20/world_cup_internet_charges/

Plus, worryingly... at the bottom of the article.... $3 for a cup of water, and drinks being confiscated at the gate.

Perhaps boardsies in the Caribbean can comment?

TrueDub

Back home now, and have just about got my breath back, so will report on the Ireland - Pakistan game.

In the bar on Friday night I was talking to this English guy, who asked me what had to happen for us to win. I said that we'd have to play brilliantly, for things to go our way, and for Pakistan to have an off-day. And that's more or less exactly what happened. One crucial thing, however, is that Pakistan only played as well as Ireland let them.

The drive to Sabina was better this time, with less traffic, and the discovery of the (well-hidden) motorway an assistance. We parked in the same spot, breakfasted in Munster Final fashion out of the boot of the car, then headed to the ground.

The toss was the big thing - hugely important. Fortunately Trent called correctly and put them in. From the first ball you could Ireland meant business, and Lanky and Boyd Rankin each took wickets in their first spell.

TJ himself and Andre kept up the pressure magnificently, with Andre in particular being unplayable - his experience on green seamers in South Africa and Ireland being a major asset. All the bowlers chipped in, and the fielding was absolutely amazing. Catches were held whenever offered, the major difference with the Zim game. Only the extras count was unsatisfactory.

At the interval the ground suddenly became very tense - you could see the realisation of what was possible sweep the ground. Amazingly, I didn't have a single beer in the second innings, simply because my stomach was churning.

Losing early wickets didn't help, and things were looking a bit dicey until the O'Brien brothers arrived. Niall batted superbly, and looked to be bringing it home until he had a complete brain-melt and got stumped. I could have strangled him...

His brother Kevin, however, played an innings of incredible patience and maturity to steer the innings home. Andre was given a shocker of a decision, while Andrew White and Kyle McCallan brought the nerves to breaking point.

Then Trent arrived, dodgy shoulder and all, and piloted us to victory. Wides, no balls and every scoring stroke were cheered to the echo, and the roar when Trent hit that final run echoed around Kingston.

The locals were 100% behind the Irish, and the dancing and festivities went on for a while. Apart from 2 idiots I encountered, the Pakistanis were very gracious in defeat, which is more than can be said for their Captain...

The drive to Ochee was quiet, as people absorbed the win. However, the team arriving the Jamaica Grand would have to rank as one of my most special moments - 200 people thronging the lobby, cheering and singing, as the players embraced family, friends and well-wishers alike.

A lot has been said about the team's spirit and down-to-earth nature - I've known quite a few of them for quite a while, so it hasn't surprised me. However, I did notice it from the players I don't know. Every one of them, and the backroom staff, were incredibly friendly to all well-wishers and to anyone who simply wanted to say congratulations. This is something they, and we, should be very proud of. I introduced a young English girl to a few of them, and you'd swear she was meeting Man United, so excited was she.

So the evening went on in a predictable fashion, with the highlight being Roy Torrens (team manager) giving a very gracious speech, concluding by saying "Michael Holding - we deserve to be here!". The singsong was amazing too!

Several players ended up in the pool, some (well, most) by my fair hand, and a magnificent day drew to a close...

And so I'm back in Dublin, plotting and scheming to get back to the Carribbean. The Super-8s are looking likely, and I'm going to be there, come hell or high water.

Final funny moment (of millions): one of our rum bottles spilt in the overhead bin on the flight out of Kingston - a Jamaican man a few rows back shouted "Hey mon, it's-a rainin' rum..."

Thus My Jamaican diary comes to end, but it could soon be a Barbadian diary, or Grenadan diary.... Watch this space!

DMC

Superb stuff. Its always worth writing down after an event like that what happened, while it is fresh and vivid in your mind. Very enjoyable read

mikeruurds

I agree. Great read I'm glad you had such a good time in Jamaica.

Marshy

Yeah fair play to you:)

Any idea of how many Irish were over there. Havent heard a definite figure.

mikeruurds

Marshy wrote:

Yeah fair play to you:)

Any idea of how many Irish were over there. Havent heard a definite figure.

Weren't they bandying a figure of 2,000 around?

Edit: I hope loads more go over to support the Super 8 matches. I'd really love to be there.

cgf

TRue Dub,

If you get any details on packages, especially from the pair in Barbados, would you post them. Kinda toying with the idea of heading west

dereko1969

a guy has posted on the cricketforum that he's organising packages to barbados, here's his email link
peter@theulstercricketer.com

i was checking this out and going through expedia flights via gatwick with virgin are going for 600 stg, could be worth checking out, getting tickets to the games could be a little tricky.

reckon there was about 2,000 at the zimbabwe game, and maybe 2500 at the pakistan game, there were lots of expats, people working for digicell in jamaica and the cayman islands gaa club brought about 80 people too.

totally echo truedubs points about the team, really nice bunch of lads, who were all hanging out with each other and us mere peasants. hopefully we can do the same to england as we did to pakistan

county

TrueDub wrote:

Final funny moment (of millions): one of our rum bottles spilt in the overhead bin on the flight out of Kingston - a Jamaican man a few rows back shouted "Hey mon, it's-a rainin' rum..."

brilliant:)

KevIRL

Fair play Derek and True Dub. Class reads all the way.

Sounds like ye had a blast (of course!)

giddyup

dereko1969 wrote:

i was checking this out and going through expedia flights via gatwick with virgin are going for 600 stg, could be worth checking out, getting tickets to the games could be a little tricky.

Yep - I saw those flights and bit the bullet. I'm bringing my Da and the two of us are going for less than the price of one package that Sadliers were organising.

Why do you say tickets will be tricky? They will hardly sell out Ireland games? Or should I get my skates on?

DMC

Guyana are still having stadium problems...

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/287135.html

TrueDub

Just found this historic thread, brought back some amazing memories.

Sadly Derek, who posted above, passed away suddenly a couple of years ago. We'd both re-started playing cricket and reconnected. He is immortalised in the footage of that amazing day on March 17 2007, dancing arm-in-arm with Arthur, another old friend & playing comrade who left us too soon.