A historic T20 win over England and multimillion-pound stadium deal have helped Ireland embrace a sport once demonised as a foreign import
In cricket a century is a score of 100 or more runs by a batter in a single innings. In Irish cricket a century marks the gulf in time between the sport’s demonisation as a “foreign” import and its metamorphosis into an emblem of a new Ireland.
In 1901, nationalists declared a “struggle to crush English pastimes” and for decades marginalised cricket and other imports such as football and rugby to promote Gaelic football and hurling and to elevate Irish identity.
