Robert Bryan, executive director of the local organising committee, said "I was surprised at the energy and interest that the Irish have shown about Jamaica and the fact that they have facilitated the provision of an extremely well-known Irish band that will be here from 9 to 18 March and that band will also appear at the opening ceremony."

Bryan is keeping the name of the act under wraps but there is speculation that the band may be secured by Chris Blackwell, the owner of U2's record company, Island Records. Blackwell was born in Jamaica of an Irish father and his hotel is situated in Kingston's Irish Town.

If the band are wavering, perhaps Dublin umpire Leslie Hewson, uncle of Bono, will have a word in their ear.

The Jamaicans are gearing up to welcome the 1,500 Irish supporters expected on the island. On 17 March - when Ireland play Pakistan - the Jamaica LOC will stage a major event in Kingston under the banner of 'JamPatrick's Day'.

The Irish team are this weekend playing UAE, attempting to pick up the pieces after a disappointing World League in Kenya. The bowling wasn't good enough, albeit afflicted by illness and injury. There is no doubt that modern one-day cricket is geared towards batsmen and the short boundaries in Nairobi distorted the scores.

But there can be no consolation since Sabina Park is the smallest of the nine grounds at the World Cup, with straight boundaries of 55 metres.

William Porterfield's back-toback centuries in the World League have propelled him into the top 100 of the LG ICC world rankings for the first time.

It is also the first time an Ireland player has been so high. Ed Joyce's performances down under see him at 80th, with Porterfield up 67 places to 99th.

Other big Irish movers are Eoin Morgan (101st), Kevin O'Brien (115th), Kyle McCallan (138th) and Trent Johnston (186th). The erratic nature of the rankings has seen Dave Langford-Smith rise 12 places to 303rd when all he did in Kenya was make two first ball ducks.

McCallan is still our leading bowler at 129th place, followed closely by Andre Botha (134th), Langford-Smith (138th) and O'Brien (144th). The younger O'Brien is also top all-rounder at 102nd.

I got an email recently from an Australian called Aran Flanagan. He was enquiring on behalf of his father, who is poorly, about a Dublin cricketer of the 1920s. The elderly man, Patrick, had been adopted by an English couple who moved to Australia, and had been given a photograph - but no name - of the man he was told was his birth father.

As the photo was of a man in cricket whites and blazer, Aran touched base with the sports office in Trinity, who put him in touch with Inside Edge.

Five minutes after seeing the photo we were able to confirm that Aran's grandfather was one of Ireland's most distinguished cricketers, Tom Dixon, who featured in the recent '100 Greats: Irish Cricketers'. Tom was born in India and educated in Adelaide, before entering Trinity in 1924 with his brother Patrick. The pair were part of a great club side and Tom went on to star in Ireland's win over West Indies in 1928. Patrick was also capped and the pair left Ireland on graduating as doctors, both dying within a year of each other in Kenya in the 1980s. Patrick Flanagan lives in Brisbane, where a Trinity teammate of the Dixons, Gerard Kenay, also lived.

Sadly, this week it was discovered that Kenay died recently and Patrick never got a chance to meet a link with his past.

While trying to avoid the hysterical nonsense spouted in advance of the Ryder Cup last year, could next summer's India v Australia series see the biggest ever audience for a sports event in Ireland? The golf lobby talked up the global audience to ludicrous levels, suggesting a "potential audience" of up to 2 billion people, but the Damp Squib at Straffan was eventually watched by around 90 million. In contrast, no less than 600 million watched an India v Pakistan ODI three years ago. While the Stormont fixture will not carry the frisson of the Asian derby, a game between India and the greatest modern side has enormous appeal in the world's biggest TV market. The ICU deserve enormous credit for securing the fixture.

Signs that there's a new wind blowing for Irish cricket (No.5): Ed Joyce's fame is spreading like wildfire down under, where he is attracting the sort of attention that he earned from the Tribune Magazine last month. An Australian woman called Hannah has compiled a video of photos of the Middlesex man called "We luv Ed Joyce!" set to the music of 'Crush' by Jennifer Paige. See www. youtube. com/watch? v=r3Qe43gmI Cg. We trust Ed is suitably mortified.

Days to the World Cup: 32. England amateur soccer international Donald Shearer, who lived much of his life in Derry, won 32 cricket caps for Ireland