ON CRICKET:THE IRISH cricket squad hit the West End of London on Monday night, mixing with the great and the good as they let their hair down after the earlier loss to Pakistan at The Oval had ended their involvement in the World Twenty20 tournament.

Holding their own among exalted company has again been the theme of an Irish campaign that saw them qualify for a second straight Super Eights phase after victory over Bangladesh.

And although they failed to register another win in the competition, their performances, especially against Sri Lanka, showed they are well ahead of the learning curve in a format of the game they are only coming to.

Coach Phil Simmons praised his players’ efforts, but pointed out that the only way to keep the momentum is more fixtures against the top sides.

“In some ways it’s pleasing because there has been a lot of improvement and that’s what we set out to do, because we did not have much experience in this format,” said Simmons, before going on to reiterate his belief that Ireland’s inclusion in the Future Tours Programme (FTP) is a must to maintain progress.

“That’s all we’ve been asking for, we’re nowhere close to Test status, but, the thing is, we need to play more against the big countries, and being on the FTP with regular Twenty20 and one-day cricket is going to help that and it’s only going to aid our improvement.”

Simmons has seen a number of his players come to the fore in international terms during the tournament, with John Mooney finally shedding the unfair image many had of him as a bits and pieces cricketer.

The North County player topped the batting averages over the five games, while his ability in the field was vital with his three catches just one behind wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien’s haul behind the stumps.

Simmons took time to single out Mooney’s displays after the latter started the warm-up period as essentially a squad player.

“I think the one that stood out and came from nowhere has been John Mooney with his batting. You can see by his stats that he was the most improved player, having come in to the tournament not being one of the starting XI.”

The coach also reserved some special praise for Paul Stirling, who came in to make his first appearance in the tournament against Pakistan. The 18-year-old creamed his first delivery through the covers for four in a nerveless display that was eventually ended by Shahid Afridi after he had made 17.

Simmons said: “I’m delighted he got an opportunity to play in front of 20,000 and know what the feeling is like, because he has a lot of cricket to play for Ireland in the future.”

Stirling will be the flag-bearer for a future generation of Irish cricketers who will owe a debt of gratitude to the present ones for placing the shamrock on the upper reaches of the world slopes.

Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, Andre Botha and the other senior players will bow out over the next few years safe in the knowledge that a hungry group of talented players are itching to take their chance at international level.

They have earned the respect, some of it hard-fought for, among the world’s media and, crucially, among other international sides. Probably the biggest compliment of all came from the erudite Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkarra, who cites Oscar Wilde as one of his literary heroes.

“The way Ireland played should be very encouraging for them as a team and as a cricketing nation – I hope they will get stronger and stronger as more and more people play the game.”

Impressively, and importantly, he was being earnest.