Three matches. Two teams. One historic weekend.
On Friday, Ireland’s men made history as they upset T20 world champions India for the time time in Belfast.
Then, 24 hours later, Ireland claimed a first win in the Women’s T20 World Cup when they defeated the West Indies by six wickets.
Back at Stormont, Ireland weren’t done there, either, as the men inflicted a first T20 series defeat on India since 2023 with a dramatic second success by just one run on Sunday.
While there have been some momentous individual wins in Irish cricket over the years, has there ever been a better weekend – and what can it do for the future?
“Sometimes it feels like we play in the shadows a little bit in international cricket, and we’re hoping we’ll be hoping we will be front page news after that,” Lorcan Tucker, who captained Ireland to the memorable triumph over India, told BBC Sport NI.
“Especially with the women’s win over the West Indies it has been a great weekend for Irish cricket and we hope there are plenty of kids who will be inspired by this and pick up the cricket bat.”
It was perhaps Ross Adair who summed up the weekend best, who said “it has to be right up there” as the most famous in Irish cricket.
“The weekend we’ve had, with the women winning yesterday, is probably the best Friday, Saturday and Sunday there has ever been,” he said.
“I’m just glad to be a part of Irish cricketing history.”
- Ireland stun India in dramatic T20 series by one run
- ‘It means so much’ – Ireland Women end wait for World Cup win
Heading into the T20 series with India at Stormont, few had given Ireland a chance.
The headlines had been dominated by the potential debut of the history-making 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi – which did not come to fruition in either game.
Then, for the underdogs, there was a lengthy list of absentees including Paul Stirling, Mark Adair, Curtis Campher and Josh Little.
By the time the final ball of the stunning 34-run win had been bowled on Friday, Ireland already had two new heroes in the form of debutants Jai Moondra and Matthew Hollard.
The duo starred again on Sunday with three wickets each, and Ireland showed plenty of grit to hold off a charge by the top-ranked side in the world.
After a relaxing Friday in a more comfortable victory, wicketkeeper Tucker admitted Sunday’s closing stages were a bit more “stressful”.
“It wasn’t on my bingo card, to be honest,” he added.
“We have done it and it is real, so testament to the lads for their work.”
Ireland have had big wins in the past. The memories of Kevin O’Brien’s stunning T20 World Cup performance against England in 2011, or against Pakistan in 2007 still put smiles on Irish faces.
For Harry Tector, who hit 53 and then bowled the decisive final over on Sunday, the wins in previous generations were “so big for the sport”, but it was “hard to measure” if Sunday was the greatest performance in Irish history.
“I think as an achievement for a cricket team to go out there and beat the two time back-to-back world champions – they’re such a good team,” added the 26-year-old.
“I couldn’t speak on the games I haven’t been involved in because they were such amazing wins at a time, when Irish cricket needed to do it.
“But certainly since I’ve been involved, I’m not sure I’ve been involved in a bigger sort of accomplishment.”
‘It’s given us belief to compete with best teams’
While the series win over India highlighted a new level of depth for Irish cricket in the men’s side of the sport, the breakthrough for the women’s team also points to a bright future.
The average age of Lloyd Tennant’s squad was just 23, and while they exited the tournament in England at the group stage, there’s no doubt that plenty more big days lie ahead.
The head coach admitted “patience” was needed, but they will learn a lot from playing on the sport’s biggest stage.
“On a bigger scale, the girls have got belief that if we can continue to grow and grow quick enough and develop as a team, where can we get to?” said Tennant after his side overcame the West Indies.
“How many great days like this can we have? So it’s given us a lot of belief that we can compete with the best teams.”
For Tector, who is in a relationship with women’s captain Gaby Lewis, the victory was a major boost for the side.
“I think it was a long time coming. They’ve been playing really well for a really long time,” he added.
“I obviously date Gaby so I’m quite into it and the whole experience of it, but I think she would probably think that they were disappointed to not win more than once because I think they went in with a lot of confidence.”
While the two teams were on opposite sides of the Irish sea, it is clear there is support for each other as they both try to grow.
After the second T20 win over India, almost every player interviewed brought up the West Indies performance without being prompted, and Tennant spoke about how big the men’s victory could be for the game as a whole.
Looking ahead, Tector hoped the winning weekend will lead to more fixtures in summer months, which in turn will lead to more growth and opportunities.
As things stand, the men only have five one-day internationals with Afghanistan in their summer schedule, while the women will be back in action with a three-game ODI series against the West Indies in July at Bready.
“The weekend on a whole is just huge and you ride that wave of momentum,” said Tector.
“I think this weekend the momentum we have is brilliant and hopefully it does a lot for us going forward in terms of getting more games in our summer.”
