John Kenny's World Cup Diary
Entry Seven - 19 March
The weather took a turn for the worse here in the north of Jamaica as a tropical rainstorm swept across Ocho Rios, the base for Ireland's cricket supporters in the West Indies, but the south of the island escaped the inclement conditions and the game between the hosts and Zimbabwe went ahead as planned.
We got a chance to see the match on local television whose presenters are, well, let's say different. It looks very low-budget indeed.
In fact, the TV being piped into our rooms at the Sunset Grande Resort is very strange. It's a mixture of daytime television and God Squad presenters telling us that the devil roams amongst us.
One priceless host declared the 12 ways to recognise the anti-Christ; he also declared to his congregation that whoever the anti-Christ is, he is not an American. The Irish lads watching that here rolled around laughing before turning back on the cricket.
It has been a hectic couple of days since Ireland's famous win against Pakistan. It's obviously big news across the world and the Irish press here has been besieged by calls from all around the world looking for comment.
By all accounts the win has been well received back home, which is great, and hopefully now the boys can take it on and qualify for the super 8s.
The other big story was the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, who died after they lost to Ireland on Saturday.
I spoke to Ireland's coach, Adi Birrell, on Sunday about Woolmer's death and he said that he was in total shock as he knew Woolmer well. Woolmer was coach of South Africa when Birrell was a provincial manager in the country.
Woolmer and his team were under considerable pressure leading up to the Irish game after the loss to the West Indies, and he knew that defeat would send his side out of the competition and lead to demonstrations on the streets of Pakistan.
Birrell himself is stepping down after the World Cup after five years in charge of Ireland. He wants to spend more time with his family and he told of the kind of stress he goes through with Ireland at times, trying to maximise his side's performance. So to coach a cricket-mad country like Pakistan must be incredibly stressful.
The stress of Bob Woolmer's job was just immense, according to Birrell, and the Irish side knew what kind of pressures were on them going into the match at Sabina Park last Saturday.
Woolmer took charge of 69 Pakistan One Day internationals, winning 37, and losing 29. He had previously coached South Africa between 1994 and 1999, guiding them to the World Cup semi-finals.
Pakistan are scheduled to play their third match of the World Cup against Zimbabwe on Wednesday back at Sabina Park in Jamaica, and a decision has been made to play the game and dedicate it to Woolmer's memory.
The Irish players are back at their base in Kingston and the preparations for the big game against the West Indies have begun in earnest. Ireland's win over Pakistan is the talk of the World Cup and if they bring their A game to the match at Sabina Park on Friday, do not be surprised if Trent Johnston's boys run the hosts close in their final match in Group D.
We were trying to work out who Ireland would meet if they come second in the group; it could well be that they face England in Guyana.
It's not yet certain that Ireland will qualify, but if they do, I can only imagine that the level of interest in that potential game against the English would be immense. We'll wait and see.
