Fish suppers and pioneering displays - Garfield Harrison reflects on Ireland career
- Published
Garfield Harrison was inducted into Cricket Ireland's Hall of Fame in 2018
Irish cricket has come on leaps and bounds in recent years.
Last year saw another significant milestone as the Men in Green graced Lord's for their first Test against newly crowned world champions England.
On Thursday, Ireland will face England once again, this time in the first of three one-day internationals at the Ageas Bowl.
For Garfield Harrison, Irish cricket is a different animal to the one he knew during his playing career.
But even with the nation's enhanced stature, the former all-rounder would not trade in his own international career for a crack at a Lord's Test.
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"Not really," Harrison told Sportsound when asked if he was envious of Ireland's Test era.
"We had a great time. I started in 1983 and played my last game in 1997.
"It was a fantastic journey - we were the pioneers because we were the first Irish side to go on tour.
"We did Zimbabwe twice, we did Kenya, Malaysia and Bermuda. We were doing all of this and still trying to hold down a job, so we had very understanding employers."
Archive: Harrison family inspires Waringstown to 1979 triumph
Harrison, the youngest of six cricketer brothers, played 118 times for Ireland during a 14-year career.
During that spell he amassed more than 2,700 runs and 140 wickets.
However, as he points out, the culture of Irish cricket was significantly different during his heyday.
"When I started playing, there was no coach," explains the former Waringstown all-rounder.
"The captain did everything and you just rocked up to the game the night before. You checked into the hotel and had a team meal and that was it.
"You got up and went to the ground the next morning an hour before the game started.
"You dragged a teammate out to throw a few balls and hit it with the bat and that was the warm-up done."
Garfield Harrison won 188 Ireland caps over 14 years
Harrison enjoyed his finest hour for Ireland against Scotland in Edinburgh in 1990, taking nine for 113, the best UK first-class cricket score that year.
"That was probably my finest day in an Irish sweater," recalls Harrison.
"Scotland were going really well to begin with. Paul McCrum pulled his groin and had to come off, so we were a bowler done.
"It was Alan Nelson, Noel Nelson, myself, Alan Lewis and Angus Dunlop.
"There was about 170 for the opening partnership and then the wickets just kept coming at my end.
"There were a couple of left-handers that came in and I really enjoyed that as I would spin the ball away from the left-handers. They didn't last too long."
Feeling like Mr Blobby
The post-match celebrations were a little different back then, too.
"We knew nothing about nutrition or anything like that.
"You went out and got a fish supper and washed it down with a couple of pints of Guinness. You felt like Mr Blobby and you couldn't understand why.
"I'm sure it affected our performance the next day.
Towards the end of Harrison's career, Mike Hendrick had become Ireland's first professional coach.
"He really started to get things moving in the right direction," said Harrison.
"We noticed a huge improvement in our performances and abilities.
"When I played, there were six or seven guys that could have played county cricket. The ability was there, it was just that we weren't even semi-professionals, we were amateurs."