It is remarkable achievement spread over 13 years and full of outstanding performances and great memories. The accolades that have followed are fully deserved for an outstanding all-rounder who has performed with great distinction and consistency at every level of cricket.
Andrew first came to prominence at Regent House School under the guidance of former Downpatrick senior cricketer Murray Lee. He was an outstanding schoolboy cricketer and although his loyalty to his home club Ards was never in question, his ambition and his talent inevitably took him four miles down the road to Comber and a wonderful fairytale ride in a resurgent North Down team. There are many people who look back to 1998 and Whitey’s entry into senior cricket as the start of the great North Down era of modern times and over the next five years he was to prove an exceptional talent at The Green.
(c) Barry Chambers
He travelled to Sri Lanka in 2000 as a member of the Ireland Under-19 squad with North Down teammates Peter Shields, Ryan Haire, and Alan O’Prey, and later that season won his first full international cap against the Netherlands. Few people, including Andrew, could have anticipated the amazing cricket experience that has followed. Whitey has lived the Irish cricket dream in every sense, a product of the professional era, and a squad player who has been a role model for aspiring youngsters. He has won virtually every honour in local cricket with some outstanding individual performances at North Down and later Instonians. But it has been at international level that he has shown his true mettle and, looking back his short professional career at Northampshire has been a blessing to Irish cricket.
Whitey’s ability to adapt to the team’s needs has been a huge asset over the years and probably explains his longevity in the Ireland sweater. Superbly fit, he has been a consummate professional totally focused on the job at hand and a player who has grown with the massive changes that have taken place in Irish cricket over the past decade. There were people who thought his career was over on several occasions, but Whitey hung in and showed his value with a series of important contributions in the high-powered world of professional cricket that Ireland compete in these days. It is a measure of his success that he is currently an automatic selection to the squad as a capable all-rounder who can make things happen with either bat or ball.
Whitey’s combative and aggressive approach has had its challenges, and his spat with North-West legend Decker Curry last year in the Irish Senior Cup was one of the most controversial incidents in modern club cricket. The Instonians player was exonerated in the post-match investigations, but the incident sullied a great sporting occasion between two top clubs. Happily Whitey has put the incident behind him and gone on to greater things at the highest level.
Winning 200 caps is always possible in the modern era when so much cricket is being played, but 13 years as an Ireland player highlights a player of exceptional talent and focus.
Well done Whitey and roll on the next hundred caps!
Clarence Hiles
Editor
