IT is less than 16 years since Ireland first played a twenty20 international, but it feels an awful lot longer. The difference between a wet weekend in Stormont in 2008 and the Indian Premier League is akin to that between Richmond Park and the Camp Nou.

Niall O’Brien played in that first game but admits to remembering very little about it. ‘I had played a lot of T20 in England but no-one took it very seriously – first class cricket was the utmost and T20 was what we called “hit and giggle”, but it was an excuse to play in front of big crowds.

‘I don’t think Ireland played any warm-ups, but our first game was against Scotland in a World Cup qualifier.’ 

That game, on August 2nd 2008, saw Scotland make 117-8 in their 20 overs, with Alex Cusack (4-21_ and Andre Botha (3-18) making the most of the conditions. Ireland passed the target with just one ball to spare, with Botha scoring 38 off 34 balls. 

O’Brien played a key innings, making 21 but off 37 balls, which gives him a chuckle. 

The game he recalls vividly however was the next one, against Bermuda, when Ireland were 41-4 when the rain came, and had time for just one over after that, making two runs but losing three wickets. That left Bermuda just 46 to make off nine overs, a near-impossible task.

‘The chat in the dressing room was that if we didn’t win this, and failed to qualify for the World Cup, we were in trouble as a team, and Irish cricket as a whole. That filled us with extra motivation to defend the total.

‘I stood up to all the bowlers, which meant they couldn’t come down the pitch and with the ball nibbling around our lads did the job.’ Botha took 2-4 off his two overs, and Peter Connell 3-8 off two, with O’Brien featuring in four dismissals.

Ireland duly qualified for the 2009 World Cup in England, where they beat Bangladesh and reached the SuperSixes.