An Irish View

Having been outplayed by the in-form South Africans yesterday at Hagley, we kick-started a potentially big night with a few DBs at the ground along with a couple of farewell and thank-you speeches with all our supporters in the dressing room. Numerous pairs of batting pads were given away to keen enthusiasts playing on the sidelines and the infamous gloves, inscribed with a personal message, donated to Shuv's shrine.

A final squad coach journey brought us back to the ranch where the fashion-conscious among us debated our party attire. Others dived straight into the pool fully clothed in our little green numbers never to be worn again - hurrah!

With a quick change and slick of lippy, we trooped confidently into the Chancellor Hotel in Christchurch to rehydrate and refuel our empty stomachs. For some, the CricInfo Party proved too much when about 150 females and a rare commodity - the male species - danced to Katrina's cover tunes but, for me, the Dutch Five really stole the show -fantastic!

For finely tuned athletes, the morning after a big night is never easy. With birds chirruping and a muzzy head I arise to the dulcet tones of Shillers outside my window laughing her head off at Captain Fantastic et al who, for some reason, have planned to go whale-watching after a more than amusing evening at the CricInfo Xmas party - er, no thanks Izzy - that's too "tough" for me!

The option to return to bed and catch up on well-earned zzzzzs was a must, given that some young chicks (no, not you Saibh!) had only just got in from 'the strip', or that's what they claimed!

Lunchtime, and those of us left on campus headed to the dining hall for the last time, hopefully to bring us back to life and to re-live last night's entertainment and any missed bits of juicy gossip.

Typically, I was put in the picture by our Young MD who decided that getting on the bus home at 1am was a bad idea and ordered all the Irish off the bus to get amongst it! Credit due to Gazza who also joined in the craic and, with a couple of swift Red Bull magic potions inside, we were in some trendy haunt with hands aloft giving it sox to clubby anthems. Unfortunately for other squaddies, their chosen footware prevented entry so, with a few carefully chosen words to the large portion of bouncer, they headed back to The Bog for a few late-night Fantas, sauntering in much to the amazement of the queuing faces!

So having danced our legs off, it was back to base with Beggsy giving it some "tough", flirting all the way home with Johnny boy, before politely crashing out. For the more mature tourists, it was decided that to come all this way and not indulge in a quiet Kiwi spa before retiring to chambers would be out of order, so they did - unnoticed!

It would be fair to say that this tournament has brought about some interesting contests and, with new friendships being made, it is time to close the diary for this world cup.

From an Irish perspective, we haven't had the greatest of tournaments but we learnt that we can play with and against the best - it's all a matter of application and visualising our potential, as we now have a hurdle to jump before joining the bigger fish in 2004. Good luck to you all and I shall eagerly watch from the sidelines next year; trust me, it won't be easy but one thing is for sure - I know you'll get out there and enjoy yourselves!

And finally to CricInfo who have done a magnificent job in raising the profile of the women's game and only hope that they continue to support us in the future. To all of you guys/gals involved - thanks a million - it's been a fab experience and one I shall never forget.