Ireland's heroic cricketers were stranded in their hotel by torrential thunderstorms after beating England at the T20 World Cup in Australia.
Batsman Lorcan Tucker’s dad Barry told the Irish Mirror: “It’s been a few days for indoors – but we’ve had a few celebration drinks too.”
As they prepared for today’s rain-soaked match against Afghanistan, the hero cricketers had already beaten Scotland, West Indies, and England.
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Several of the players’ families are in Melbourne and are “absolutely delighted and very proud”, according to team captain Andrew Balbirnie’s dad Ashley.
He said: “It’s a special combination of being at the tournament and being at the iconic MCG [Melbourne Cricket Ground] and beating England on Wednesday.
“Since then the weather has been so bad, so wet, just torrential that it has been hard to leave the hotel.
“We are in Australia and cannot believe how bad the weather is.
"In Hobart, where we played the West Indies, it was so cold and Melbourne is so wet.”
Ashley’s son Andy (32) top-scored with 62 runs against England while Barry’s son Lorcan (26) hit 34 as Ireland won by five runs.
Barry said: “There has been absolutely great excitement here since we beat England.
“I met Lorcan in the team hotel after the game and he was delighted.
“But it has been absolutely torrential here since then, so we’ve all been in the hotel.
"It’s weather for indoors and we had a few drinks.”
It was the heavy downpours that helped Ireland achieve the surprise win over England, as the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern (DLS) method was used in their favour.
The DLS method is a mathematical formula that is used when there is a rain interruption and the overs (bowls of the ball) are cut down in the second innings of the game.
England had the second innings and would have won had batsman Moeen Ali hit the next ball - which was never bowled because of rain - for just six runs.
Ireland lost their first match against Zimbabwe and were “down and out” according to Lorcan against the Scots in the second match until Curtis Campher smashed a match-winning half-century to clinch the shock comeback.
Barry said: “We lost the first game and we were on the brink in the second game, but they turned it around.
“We were so far behind it was like coming back from 10 points down in the GAA or 2-0 down in soccer.
“The wins have left all of us feeling very exuberant and the vibe amongst the players is very relaxed but determined.
“They have exceeded some people’s expectations, but they want to push on.”
The turnaround since Zimbabwe and defeat of England sparked dreams of the semi-finals for Lorcan, who said: “You never know what might happen.”
Andy suggested this could be a “golden generation” of Irish players and said in Melbourne: “Ronnie Delaney won a gold medal here in the [1956] Melbourne Olympics and you see his name etched in the history of Irish sport.
“I hope we’ve done something similar. I’ve always said cricket isn’t a big game in Ireland but we’re the flag bearers and we want it to be as big as possible.”
Andy, who plays for Glamorgan in Wales, and Lorcan, plays for Leinster Lightning at home, but both started out at Pembroke Cricket Club in Sandymount, Co Dublin.
Ireland vs Afghanistan was due to start today (FRI) at 5am Irish time.
Afghanistan is ranked 10th at the T20 World Cup, while Ireland is 12th.
Ashley said: “Afghanistan would be a match that the players would have targeted at the outset.
“The team’s wins so far have been fantastic. They can be proud of themselves.”
The relentless showers that ended the Ireland vs England game was so bad that it meant the following match, New Zealand vs Afghanistan, was abandoned.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology revealed that 70 millimetres of rain fell, which emergency services said resulted in 400 calls for help across the city.
A spokesperson for the State Emergency Service (SES) said: "Those 400 requests for assistance basically came within a 90-minute period.”
Ireland are next due to play T20 World Cup hosts Australia in Brisbane on Monday and then New Zealand in Adelaide next Friday.
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