One of the traditions of team visits to Lord’s is to have a photograph taken in the ‘Harris Rose Garden’, and the 2003 tour to Arundel, Lord’s, Eton and Shenley was no different.

Ireland Squad 2003

Close observers of the pic will notice that there is a notable absentee from the photograph, someone nevertheless who would feature heavily in the events that would unfold over the following two days in the matches against Free Foresters and Club Cricket Conference.

The trip was the first visit to the Home of Cricket by the Irish Coach Adi Birrell and like other visitors to the ground he was immediately immersed in the history of the place that meets you at every turn.

All seemed new and unfamiliar to Adi until we entered the Away dressing room, where he was immediately drawn to the Honours Boards on display.

A beam crossed his face as he jumped up on the bench seat to point out two performances that had taken place earlier that summer.

“Those are MY men,” he proudly announced, pointing to the names of Graeme Smith and Gary Kirsten.

Adi Birrell points to the honours board

I’m sure at that moment it never crossed his mind that one day another Ireland Coach, his fellow countryman Graham Ford would have the chance to likewise point to the name of Tim Murtagh after his memorable performance on his home patch and say - “That’s MY Man!”