Mumbai: Brian StIrling saw his son Paul Stirling being out to Zaheer Khan the first ball in the 2011 World Cup in India.
On Monday, he was in front of TV set whole night (logistically time zone difference between Northern Ireland and New Zealand) and saw his 25-year-old son grabbing the Man of the Match award as Ireland thumped West Indies.
The Player of the Match is @stirlo90 for his superb innings of 92 #twittermirror #cwc15 #WIvIRE pic.twitter.com/jdYSWFanJw
— ICC (@ICC) February 16, 2015The right-handed opening batsman Paul Stirling had scored 92 runs.
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Speaking exclusively over phone on Monday night, he said, "I watched the game all night here. I am delighted with the win and for Paul to win the MoM. It was a great team effort."
"My wife and I will fly to Australia next week."
"We are unlikely to win CWC, but we do want very much the respect of the cricket world. India is the biggest part of that world. We do not yet have the respect of ICC who keep reducing the number of teams. All other sports are expanding their World Cups."
"I am not sure about the Test status yet, but guaranteed ODIs against Test Nations would be important. We think some Test teams don't want to play us. Pakistan have played us. We are thankful to them."
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"I was an international rugby referee myself, but all parents will know we want more for our children than for ourselves!," he added.
Interestingly, Paul Stirling's elder brother, Richard was in the Ireland U19 squad at the 2006 World Cup in Sri Lanka, according to team's manager, Barry Chamber.
VVS Laxman's coach:
"Paul has two big brothers who bowled to him when he was little. He thought fast bowling was normal.
We think our coaching set up in Ireland is good. Ten players of today’s team have learned the game in Ireland. One of Paul’s coaches has been Bobby Rao, who also coached India's VVS Laxman," he signed off.
