Ross Adair hungry for more after first taste of international cricket

With Paul Stirling absent, Adair was handed an opportunity to open the batting and in just his second appearance proved why the Irish selectors turned to him by scoring 65 in a man-of-the-match performance.

The 28-year-old is no stranger to professional sport having represented Ulster Rugby and Jersey Reds before swapping the oval ball for a more round one, but he wasn’t sure the chance to play at the highest level in cricket would ever come.

No spring chicken (his words, not mine), Adair has been in blistering form in club cricket since making the Premier League leap with CSNI and now CIYMS, helping the Belmont side win a coveted Irish Cup crown.

He has shown his versatility with the Northern Knights, acting as a finisher on occasion, and when all that hard work and dedication resulted in a phone call from Head of Selectors, Andrew White, it made everything worth it.

"I was sitting in the back on my friends car on the way back from a wedding and I looked down at the phone and Andrew White's name came up,” he recalls. “I thought I was maybe getting in trouble for something! It was a bit unexpected.”

Cricket is a family affair for the Adair’s with younger brother Mark already an established member of the Ireland squad while parents Ricky and Joanne are never too far from the boundary rope or a TV screen, throwing full support behind their boys.

While Ross predicts ‘a lot of the watching was potentially done between fingers’ back home with the nerves of not one but now two children in action, what made the moment even more special was that Mark was the one to present his maiden cap.

From Holywood to Harare, the Adair’s had made it.

"He spoke very well,” said Ross. “He had written a few things down on his phone and when the moment came, he didn't say a word of it. He was just so excited to give me my cap.

"It has been a hell of a journey we have been on together. Holywood, CI, Knights, all the school cricket we've played, the indoor cricket we played in the house as kids. It was very emotional for me and he was the same."

Adair’s return to playing cricket more regularly after time in Jersey – firstly, terrorising Section One opposition with his brutal batting style while at Holywood – was more for enjoyment than chasing an Ireland cap.

In more recent years, the desire to make the next step has burned inside and with (lots of) runs came confidence and belief he could do it.

He scored 979 in all competitions last season for CIYMS – 200+ more than any other homegrown NCU player – at an average of 61.

No one scored more centuries (4), no one had a higher individual score (186), no one had a better strike rate (136.92) – this was all of a product of the ‘work in the shadows’.

"I didn't really expect to go this far,” adds Adair. “You always want to play for Ireland, but I thought potentially I was maybe too late.

"There were the Covid years where not a lot of cricket was happening and I maybe lost a year of development in there.

"I'm not a young man anymore but with that first game I felt 21 again and like I was starting out on an international journey.

"I've done a lot of hard work in the shadows and haven't been too loud about how much training I've done.

"No one sees all the work you put in behind the scenes but it was really rewarding. Now I have a taste of it, I just want more."

While ‘rugby and cricket are very different’, Adair has picked up vital learnings from his previous occupation that has helped with his cricket journey and they were in full display during the Zimbabwe series.

He dusted himself down after scoring five in his first innings to follow it up with a half-century and the series may have ended with a score of one, but if given the chance, Adair will be raring to go again.

"Rugby has helped me deal with little things,” he adds.

"The best players in any sport, if they make a mistake, they forget about it straight away and are onto the next one. The mental side of things is hugely important.

"It's nice to take learnings from the first game into the second and for it to come off.

"I was a bit slow and that's not really me. That's not why I'm in the team or what I'm there to do, so I guess if I get to go again I might be more aggressive.

"I went away from the second game thinking I had done well, but also what can I do better? Gary (Wilson) had a good chat with me after the game and you want to be better every game you play.

"I want to be at the high levels. I enjoy getting coached and learning.

"Now that I have a taste of it, I want more of it. There's a lot of cricket to be played this year and fingers crossed I can be apart of it."