Ireland cricket captain Andrew Balbirnie says the significance of the team's achievement against West Indies is beginning to sink in.
The Irish team claimed a thrilling four-run victory in their T20 opener against their hosts in Grenada on Wednesday night.
Balbirnie joined RTÉ 2FM's Game On to react to Ireland's achievement and although the team are "emotionally drained", they are coming to terms with the realisation that they have "done something special".
"I don't know if it's really sunk in for the lads what we've actually done," he said.
"I kind of reminded them after the game that it's a great achievement to be able to beat the world champions in their own back yard.
"But what would be even more special is if we can come home having won a series."
He added that the carrot of a series triumph is "a chance to create history" and that "it hasn't been done before".
Couldn't be prouder of this group of men ☘️
— Andy Balbirnie (@balbo90) January 15, 2020
The achievement comes off the back of a one-day international loss to the West Indies.
"After the one-day series when we lost 3-0 and we came so close in that second game, it would've been easy to carry on with the tour and compete in a couple of games," said Balbirnie.
"But I think the lads have been outstanding in the way they've worked hard in training and we have a specific plan of how we want to go out and execute.
"And we did that. I thought we were outstanding in the field yesterday. We caught all our catches and in T20 cricket, just small things like that and fine margins can win you a game of cricket."
Balbirnie says the team has been keen to stress the importance of valuing the opportunity to play one of the sport's elite teams on their territory.
"Something that we try to instill to the guys is we are living our best days here," he said.
"We are playing against the world champions in their own back yard.
"We truly are lucky in what we do and if you're not enjoying it, then there's something wrong."
Balbirnie feels it will also give a timely boost to Irish cricket.
"Naturally, we're competing with a lot of different sports in our country," he said.
"I've said it a couple of times to the guys that yes, we've lost a couple of fixtures here and there for whatever reason, but all we can do is go out and try to win games of cricket.
"And like I said earlier, it's that snowball effect. If we can win games on that stage, it gets more publicity, people then come in and say, 'I might want to get behind this team' and it just rolls like that.
"So all I can do and all we can do is try and win games of cricket and hopefully things will sort themselves out in the background."
Irish cricket captain @balbo90 talks to @mariecrowe and @docallaghan4 on @GameOn2fm after Ireland's historic victory over the West Indies #rtesport #gameon2fm #cricketireland pic.twitter.com/87QGcTe0GM
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) January 16, 2020
