On Cricket:For about an hour on Saturday afternoon at Clontarf, during the game against West Indies, there was a glimpse of what this season could have been. For a host of reasons, the post-World Cup period has been a damp squib, a run of bad-news stories set against a backdrop of driving rain.
But suddenly there we were, the sun on our faces, a big crowd swapping Thermos flasks for Bulmers and ice and a close-to-full Ireland team out in the middle. Ticket prices were reasonable and clubs were given time off to go to watch.
They were treated to an enthralling little passage of play as Kevin O'Brien and Eoin Morgan took on the West Indies attack. And when O'Brien pulled a six over mid-wicket it drew a roar of approval, a sound not heard at an Ireland cricket match for quite a while.
Then, within minutes the rain came down again and that was it. No wonder Bulmers have issued a profit warning.
Beyond the cricket some odd things were happening in the middle. Having taken the players off after seven balls in the morning, the umpires kept them off until 2.55pm. This despite the rare outbreak of sunshine.
In the intervening few hours, there was much standing hands on hips staring at a patch of ground on the bowler's run-ups.
I was taken back to 1980,when I sat with my father and 20,000 others at a steaming hot Lord's for the centenary Test between England and Australia. Not one ball was bowled until after tea, as the umpires fretted over a damp patch at extra cover. One MCC member made the ultimate sacrifice and threw his sandwiches at umpire David Constant. The crowd at Clontarf were better-behaved but equally frustrated.
We have to be careful here; nobody wants to put players in jeopardy. But there was a feeling among those close to proceedings that the West Indies were less than keen to get the game played.
It was one of those times when cricket did itself few favours in the battle for hearts and minds. At best, Saturday at Clontarf was an example of poor PR, at worst, weak umpiring.
It looks bad when players are in the middle offering opinions on the state of the pitch. The decision must be taken, and be seen to be taken, by officials, in consultation with ground staff.
During the discussions, the West Indies players paid a backhanded compliment to the Irish, saying they wanted to be sure their bowlers would be able to run in at full pelt.
There is also evidence here of the differences in approach between Test and associate nations as to the playability of a ground: a good game went ahead the following day at Stormont between Ireland and Scotland on a pitch comparable to that of early Saturday at Clontarf.
One of Saturday's umpires, AM Saheba from India, had apparently never been to Europe, so his take on what is playable here is probably out of sync with that of the fans, who were giving him the slow handclap from the boundary.
Sitting in the clubhouse while all this was going on was Daryll Hair. The burly Australian was last seen creating an international incident at the Oval last autumn, when he accused the Pakistanis of ball tampering, leading to the Test match being abandoned. Hair was at Clontarf in an official capacity, working for the ICC (which, coincidentally, he is taking to an industrial tribunal in September). He was monitoring the the two officials in charge of the game.
That report might make an interesting read. His recommendations might echo the views of Pat Cash. The Aussie player-turned-pundit was asked recently how he'd improve Wimbledon. His response? "Hold it in the summer."
