Brisbane-born carpenter Alex Cusack took to international cricket from the moment he made his debut for his adopted country of Ireland.
In a one-day game, against South Africa in Belfast in 2007, he scored a brisk 36 and took three for 15 with his medium-pacers to win the man-of-the-match award.
The year of 2007 was a memorable one for Irish cricket in general, and not just Cusack in particular, with the national side knocking Pakistan out of the World Cup.
Ireland have been getting used to Caribbean conditions this month with one-dayers against the West Indies and a series of other tour matches in the run up to the T20 World Cup that begins on April 30.
Cusack is relishing his first experience of cricket in the region.
“I’m pretty sure the rest of the guys who were out there in 2007 are pretty excited to be heading back to the islands,” he told the International Cricket Council (ICC) Web site. “It should be good and I’m really looking forward to the whole experience.”
Ireland have been drawn with England and the West Indies and Cusack said: “It’s a tough group. Both England and West Indies are good sides and on their day they can do well but I don’t think there is a huge difference between any of the sides.”
“It just depends on the day really. Hopefully we can play our best and maybe get an upset,” he said.
As the Netherlands showed when beating England at Lord’s in last year’s World Twenty20, shocks can happen in cricket’s shortest international format.
“I think it’s easier to pull off a shock in Twenty20 because recovery time is less than in 50 overs,” Ireland coach Phil Simmons said.
“We have played that little bit more Twenty20 than we had going into the last World Cup — so we are slightly wiser about Twenty20 cricket,” he said.
The 29-year-old Cusack is looking forward to making an impact in his favorite form of cricket.
“I suppose I enjoy Twenty20 cricket because it’s a lot shorter, it’s fast paced, you have to think on your feet, you can just come in and go for it rather than think too hard — it’s all good fun,” he said.
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