The Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla Stadium was once again turned into an ocean of green yesterday as Bangladesh took on Ireland in a crunch match of Group B in their World Cup campaign. Amidst the green ocean there were a tad few dots of a paler shade of green, the ones supporting the Irish team. One such supporter was Adrian Lynch, an Irish cricket fan who works here for Tesco and came to the stadium yesterday along with a couple of friends to cheer on the Irish side.
The 40ish old from Northern Ireland says even though he was supporting his home side in this match, he has a liking for Bangladesh cricket and supports them whenever they are playing against any other side.
“I like to see Bangladesh play well, but definitely not today. Not only Bangladesh, I support all the lesser nations in cricket, and it feels good when teams like Netherlands play well,” said Lynch as he found ample reason to smile midway through Bangladesh innings.
An avid cricket follower, Lynch says he has been following Irish cricket for the last ten years, long before the national side shot to fame in the 2007 World Cup.
“Although cricket is an English invention, it is now a global game. In the end it is a great sport. I have played cricket when I was in school. I even played cricket in Morocco, where I used to play with expatriate Indians and Pakistanis.”
Lynch comes from the northern part of Ireland, where cricket has a bigger hold than in the south, even though nothing compares to the popularity of Gaelic football or rugby. But he believes that cricket is catching on since their glorious performances of four years ago.
“The passion for cricket in Ireland is rising as Ireland gets more chances to play in international cricket. I would love to see Ireland play Test cricket one day.”
