HANSIE CRONJE would have been forgiven for wondering if he were the victim of some devilish Celtic plot after Ireland made history by defeating Middlesex by 46 runs in the Benson and Hedges Cup at Castle Avenue yesterday. After all, South Africa's charismatic captain had scored a mighty undefeated 94 before taking three valuable wickets among them that of Mark Ramprakash for 38 runs off eight overs.
The £250 which goes with the gold award in the group matches is admittedly small matches compared to the loot which Cronje is getting for his on-and-off-the-field efforts in Ireland's cricketing cause, during the four-match B and H campaign. But the award went to Decker Curry, a decision which served well to underline the fact that Ireland's success was the result of an all-round team effort.
Individual brilliance seldom wins cricket matches single-handedly, outside the realms of schoolboy fiction. Ireland's performance on the first day had emphasised that fact, as Curry and Kyle McCallan had provided the platform for first Alan Lewis and then Cronje. And subsequently, Justin Benson and the ebullient Andrew Patterson had done their own bit, all combining to steer Ireland to a very healthy and encouraging 281 for four.
The six Middlesex wickets which fell on Monday were also caused to tumble by team-work and, perhaps even more importantly, team spirit. Those among the meagre enough attendance which turned up to watch the start of play yesterday were destined to see Irish sporting history made; if the first 30 minutes or so were filled with trepidation and worry about another near-miss, that spirit was soon to show that this is a team fully imbued with self-belief.
In the morning's first nine overs, Keith Brown and Jamie Hewitt looked relatively untroubled, and pushed the score along to 175, an additional 41 runs. That was not much less than five an over, and the local reporters in the press room were becoming unusually quiet and contemplative.
It was then that skipper Benson struck. Hewitt skied a ball almost as high as the Hale-Bopp comet, but Angus Dunlop, racing along the mid-wicket boundary, never faltered, to hold a fine catch, and the Irish were back in business.
Four runs on, and Middlesex were 179 for eight. This time, it was the turn of Greg Molins, one of the younger crop of players who came on the international scene as recently as last summer. Molins had Brown superbly caught in the 41st over by Peter Gillespie, who had also held opener Paul Weekes off the bowling of Derek Heasley the previous day. But if they thought it was all over, they were wrong.
That brought Phil Tufnell in, and he and Angus Fraser put on a heart-stopping - from an Irish viewpoint 48 for the ninth wicket. English county sides can bat right down to number 11, somebody remarked gloomily; that the Irish were scattering wides about like confetti was another worry.
But soon, it WAS all over. Cronje removed Tufnell 227 for nine, and surely nothing could stop Ireland now? Nothing could; as the seconds ticked away towards High Noon, Heasley shattered the wicket of Simon Cook and history had been made.
In this space the other day I wrote that maybe the Irish Cricket Union would have a public Te Deum sung for Cronje, should he mastermind the defeat of Middlesex on the morrow. In reality, many another should be included in any such celebrations - like all of his team-mates and, above all, Mike Hendrick, whose know-how and cricketing street-wisdom have clearly rubbed off on this admirable side of canny and determined amateurs.
Amateurs yes, but certainly professional in approach, as Hendrick himself has said, and who could ask for anything more? Next, come Somerset, Glamorgan and then Essex, and maybe their skipper, the venerable Graham Gooch, will be worried about his team's tete-a-tete with the Irish.
He's a former England captain, y'see. Just like Mike Gatting.
