Ireland coach Mike Hendrick was typically downbeat after his under-strength side upset the odds by defeating Bangadesh by four wickets at Waringstown yesterday.
"I'm glad to have got away to a winning start in the series against Bangladesh, but though we performed well, we'll have to fine tune aspects of our play," he said.
Hendrick is far too much a realist to indulge in fancy rhetoric, no matter how great his team's achievement. And due allowance must be made for the fact that Gordon Greenidge's squad arrived in Ireland only last Wednesday, leaving scant time for preparation.
Still, this was a remarkable, gutsy display by Ireland's weekend club cricketers. Skipper Alan Rutherford and his men can take pride in an emphatic victory over the country which won last season's ICC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur, to qualify for next year's World Cup in England.
On a perfect day for cricket of hazy sun and high clouds, the picturesque Waringstown grounds provided a wonderful setting for what turned out to be an epic encounter. There was plenty of atmosphere, with banner-bearing Bangladeshi expatriates rooting loudly for their team.
But Ireland got a few early breakthroughs, courtesy of Ryan Eagleson, Derek Heasley and John Davy, to leave the visitors on 71 for three. Then they let the initiative slip, as Mohammed Rafique and particularly the top-scorer, Aminul Islam, suddenly upped the run rate; Bangladesh were 164 for five when Davy dispatched Islam.
Then an extraordinary collapse ensued, as Kyle McCallan took four swift wickets to leave the tourists teetering on 188 for nine. But the last man, Hasibul Hussain, contributed a lively, undefeated 33 to help put on an invaluable 41 runs for the 10th wicket to take the score to 229.
Enter Neil Carson, deputising for the injured Ted Williamson, to provide the stuff of schoolboy fiction. On his club ground, he had a dream international debut, his 52 from 68 balls helping to put on 74 for the first wicket with McCallan.
After Carson departed, Stephen Smyth and Peter Gillespie put on 53 for the third wicket, and may very well have won the match earlier for Ireland, so much in control did they look. But a silly call caused Smyth to be run out. As if in atonement, Gillespie, with steady support from Derek Heasley, bludgeoned the bowling until Ireland were on 215 for four when Heasley lost his wicket.
That left Ireland only 15 runs short of victory, but overs - and luck - were running out. Paul Mooney departed to leave the score 225 for 5 then, just six runs short of his century, Gillespie was dramatically run out - 227 for 6.
Ryan Eagleson was equal to the occasion in the final over, smashing the third ball to the boundary to see Ireland home in an engrossing contest.
Vignettes of a splendid day's cricket will remain in the mind: Like Rutherford's magnificent diving catch to remove Minhajul Abedin; like excellent Irish fielding; and like the inspired bowling of McCallan to start a veritable procession of batsmen ruefully returning to the pavilion.
This was a true team performance. But credit must be paid to Gillespie, whose pursuit of the bowlers swung the game Ireland's way, after Carson and McCallan had created the initial platform.
