Balmy, late summer sunshine, crowds packing the compact ground set in the serenity of rural Derry, the youthful autograph-seekers besieging the men who won the Ashes - what more could one have asked for at Eglinton yesterday when Ireland's amateurs tackled the Australians? Well, the answer is some Allan Border-like swash-buckling batting, like the former Aussie skipper supplied at Castle Avenue four years ago.
Despite a fine undefeated 117 from man-of-the-match Ricky Ponting, who with Justin Langer put on 149 for the sixth wicket, and solid batting contributions from Greg Blewett, Mark Waugh and Matthew Elliott, there was little to bring on coronary arrest by dint of excitement yesterday. Until Ponting and Langer teamed up, the Australians had been strangely restrained - when Mark Waugh departed, they were 116 for five with 22 overs gone, scarcely heady stuff, in anyone's book.
Of course, such matches are always going to be one-sided and as such are always going to be exhibition games, though never so described. The chances of an amateur side like Ireland ever winning is always remote, and never mind the 1969 rout of the West Indies at Sion Mills.
Yet there was much to admire in the excellent batting of the Australians, even if secretly one might have wished for a little more derring do, along the lines of say, Ian Botham. There was much to admire in Ireland's bowling and fielding, too, and the early success of Gordon Cooke from nearby Limavady, who removed both openers, Michael Slater and Elliott, went down well with the crowd of some 3,000.
Cooke was in the team instead of the injured Paul McCrum, who is doubtful for next week's twomatch visit to England. Cooke bowled well, and also batted effectively, sharing in a stand of 161 with Kyle McCallan, when Ireland were reeling on 86 for seven.
But when the Australians had recovered from their early ennui to total 303 from the 50 overs, having batted right through for three-and-a-half hours, the rest of the afternoon had an air of inevitability about it. As is the case in these one-sided matches, the tourists batted first, and tried to keep the crowd happy by not riddling the local batting line-up too early.
But in a way, this was unfair to the spectators, who presumably would have liked to see the mainline Australian bowlers in action, even though that would have almost certainly resulted in a "premature" finish. In the event, Mark Taylor used a squadron of nine bowlers, only Waugh and Darren Berry, the wicket-keeper, not being given a go at the Irish.
The crowd didn't seem to mind and whenever the public address man announced that the Australians not in the field were signing autographs behind the sight screen, hordes of kids surged around the boundaries. The same young kids besieged the Aussies who were ON the field - the good humour of the men from Down Under was exemplary.
McCallan, who probably would have been left out if McCrum had been able to play, was unbeaten on 64 at the end, while the determined Cooke scored an aggressive 26. Both also lofted a few sixes, to the delight of the Mexican-waving crowds.
It was that sort of day.
Australia M Elliott c Patterson b Cooke - 28 M Slater c Lewis b Cooke - 0 G Blewett c Joyce b Heasley - 44 M Waugh st Rutherford b Molins - 32 M Bevan c Molins b Heasley - 2 J Langer c Patterson b Curry - 57 R Ponting not out - 117 M Taylor c Molins b Curry - 9 D Berry not out - 1 Extras (lb2, w6, nb5) - 13 - Total (for 7, 50 overs) - 303
Did not bat: M Kasprowicz and G McGrath.
Fall of wickets: 1-2 2-52 3-92 4-114 5-116 6265 7-289.
Bowling: G Cooke 10-0-65-2, J Davy 7-0-53-0, G Molins 10-0-36-1, D Heasley 10-0-57-2, D Curry 10-0-60-2, E Joyce 3-0-30-0. IRELAND D Curry c Berry b McGrath - 12 A Patterson b McGrath - 0 A Lewis c Berry b Kasprowicz - 12 E Joyce c Langer b Blewett - 6 J Benson c Berry b Ponting - 9 K McAllan not out - 64 D Heasley c Berry b Ponting - 7 J Davy c Berry b Ponting - 0 G Cooke c Waugh b Langer - 26 A Rutherford b Slater - 0 G Molins st Berry b Hiller - 0 Extras (b4, lb6, w12, nb6) - 28 - Total (45.3 overs) - 164
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-20, 3-33, 4-44, 5-65, 6-84, 7-86, 8-161, 9-163.
Bowling: McGrath 4-0-12-2, Kasprowicz 8-026-1, Blewett 7-1-19-1, Bevan 5-0-13-0, Ponting 7-0-14-3, Elliott 3-0-15-0, Slater 7-0-31-1, Langer 4-0-23-1, Taylor 0.3-0-1-1. Australia won by 139 runs
. Glamorgan's Robert Croft and Essex's Mark Ilot hav each been fined $1,000 by their counties after a bust-up during the stormy NatWest trophy semi-final on Tuesday.
The pair clashed ass tensions boiled over towards the end of the game, which Essex eventually won by one wicket the following morning.
Feelings were already running high before Waqar Tounis prepared to bowl with Essex on 296 for eight needing just six rungs off 41 balls to win.
Ilot complained to umpires David Constant and Chris Balderstone about the deteriorating light and then became involved in an angry mid-pitch exchange with Croft which ended with the pair pushing each other.
They made up the next day and apologised for their behaviour.
