Andy McBrine's courageous performance with bat and ball inspired the team to record Ireland’s historic series win against the West Indies in Jamaica.
That’s the opinion of former Ireland international Alan Lewis, who was full of praise for the Donemana all-rounder after he battled on having taken a blow to the head.
McBrine impressed throughout the three-match series and was again instrumental in the third and deciding Sabina Park encounter on Sunday as Ireland won by two wickets.
"Like most things in sport, when you do the simple things well, they often work and that is essentially what [McBrine] did," said Lewis, speaking on Game On.
"But he’s a highly skilful bowler and he has really developed into a world class bowler. He is competing with Simi Singh, and they spur each other on. That is also a good thing.
"And the other thing is that he has taken this number three position, and batted unbelievably courageously.
"He got hit on the head in the second match and got hit on the head again on Sunday, but there was no way he was going off, he didn’t flinch and that again is just another measure.
"What does that say to the dressing room?
"It says a huge amount to the players coming behind him that this guy is going stand there and deliver, and that is in essence what they did. That was the most pleasing thing about the performance, and you could feel that amongst the team."
The Ireland squad had to cope with selection issues throughout the series as a result of Covid-19, which meant that captain Andy Balbirnie missed the final two games, with Paul Stirling standing in as captain of the team.
And Lewis felt that the team responded to the opening batsman, who is so often the player who sets the tempo in the batting order.
"They are very much a together squad and [Sterling] came in as Balbirnie was out. He is our most exuberant player on the world stage and the best cricketer that we have, and the players really responded to him.
"They just stuck at it. Even at the start when the West Indies got off to a bit of a flyer and then there was that great catch by Josh Little and then a fantastic catch by Harry Tector.
"You could just feel this roll, and then McBrine got into his stride, and you could just feel it. These are the things that you just feel in sport, and they just stayed amongst them and stuck at it.
"They just stuck at it and that’s what I admired most about them."
Lewis was also impressed by the young players coming through the team, stepping out of the shadows of the golden generation of the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, and had a special mention for Harry Tector who he believes is "to the manor born".
Tector has been in incredible form with the bat in recent games in green and once again showed his importance in the side hitting 52 runs.
"There are some really good players coming to the fore, like Harry Tector who hit three half-centuries," said Lewis.
"He batted beautifully, he looked to the manor born and is far more mature than his years."
