da 888casino： Trialled almost by accident Alex Cusack turns out be a revelation for Ireland
Andrew McGlashan in Belfast24-Jun-2007
For Alex Cusack it was a memorable debut as he came away with the Man-of-the-Match award © Getty Images
Alex Cusack almost ended up playing for Ireland by accident. Born inBrisbane he didn’t have a club when he made the move but a contact puthim in touch with Clontarf in Dublin. In 2005 he made the decision tostay and two years later walked away with the Man-of-the-Match award,albeit in a losing cause, on his one-day international debut, leavingTrent Johnston to say: “He’s going to be in these Irish colours for along time and he deserves that.”During the day he was misnamed ‘John’ by the TV commentators andwrote himself a fine script with 3 for 15 and an unbeaten 36, a farcry from his first match for Ireland – in the Friends Provident Trophy- against Middlesex where he bowled three expensive overs. “It wasgreat fun,” he said, “I was probably a bit more relaxed. You’ve justgot to get it in your mind that it’s just another game, do the basicsright and go from there.”Cusack, who is a carpenter by trade, was Ireland’s one change fromyesterday’s nine-wicket defeat against India replacing Gary Wilson inthe side. He was the seventh option used by Johnston and it soonseemed as though he should have been on much earlier. He kept his coolat the end as the South African batsmen tried to clear the ropes.”I do it a lot for my club. I’m used to it. I like it, sometimes yougo for runs, sometimes you get a few wickets. That’s the way it goes.”Johnston added that it was a performance he knew Cusack had in him.”We knew he could make the step up,” he said. “He may have been a bitnervous with the ball against Middlesex but he came out there in toughconditions, against quality batsmen with short boundaries and he hitthe top of off-stump and showed us how well he could bat.”Overall Johnston was encouraged by his team’s effort, but rued thefact that both the batting and the bowling didn’t fire on the sameday. “The guys were positive and we had a bit of luck. Butunfortunately it turned against us with Kenny [Carroll] slipping over[getting out hit wicket] and then we lost three quick wickets.”It was back to the good old days of where we performed well in onediscipline and let ourselves down in the other. I don’t know when weare going to put a good game together. It’s been some time now sincewe’ve done that. But we’ve got a quadrangular series next month tolook forward to and hopefully we can perform better in that than wehave done over the last couple of days.”That a match was completed at all was a prospect that appeared highlyunlikely during the early afternoon. Persistent, heavy drizzle hungaround – and returned at the start of Ireland’s run chase – and bothsides deserve credit for being keen to have a match. South Africa,especially, got into the spirit of the occasion because, with moreimportant matches coming up, it would have been easy for them to bereluctant to take the field.”We haven’t played much cricket and to go against India without a gamewouldn’t have been ideal,” said Jacques Kallis, “but now most of theguys have had a hit and a bowl so it has let them get the rust out andget ready for the next game.”It was a good day for debutants. Vernon Philander, on his 22ndbirthday, was the star bowler for the visitors with 4 for 12. Theywere the second best figures by a South African in ODIs – behind AllanDonald’s 5 for 29 against India – and the seventh best by any player.There a big plans ahead for him in the South African team. “He’s donewell back home in domestic cricket and that’s the reason he got acall-up here,” explained Kallis.”He’s a good allrounder, someone who hopefully can fill ShaunPollock’s boots, which are big boots to fill, and he started welltoday. He landed the ball in the right areas, there was a little bitin the wicket, and he exploited it expertly. I certainly hope he has abright future ahead of him.”