IRELAND'S cricketers' success in the World Cup in the West Indies has delighted many and brought new fans to the game. Their new celebrity status, no matter how temporary, has amused the players . . . and they're enjoying every minute of it. Last Saturday the team boarded a Caribbean Airlines jet in Jamaica on their way to Guyana for the next two weeks of their adventure. As one of the players reached the top of the steps to enter the plane he was greeted by the air hostess with 'Good day, Mr Botha.'

Andre Botha's face showed he was stunned to be recognised, but he won't be losing his sense of perspective. "It's amazing, " he said.

"You are treated like royalty here but in five weeks' time they'll be down in the Balrothery Inn telling me I'm crap!"

Alongside the 15 new heroes of Irish sport, a dozen young women have been thrust into the limelight in a way they could never have dreamed of. The UK and Caribbean press have been fascinated with what they call the CWags, the cricket wives and girlfriends. "I don't object to the term Wags but I wouldn't use it for us, " says Ciara Gillespie, wife of batsman Peter. "I know it came from the footballers' wives and girlfriends but it just goes way over my head. We just have a good laugh about it. Posh Spice? I'm the complete opposite!"

Most of the women were in Jamaica last week where Ireland were based for their successful first-round games. They mostly stayed in the resort of Ocho Rios with their families, travelling into Kingston for the matches. The unexpected progress of the team presented a problem. Lynne McCallan is a PE teacher at Tandragee Junior High School just outside Armagh. "My boss has been very kind in allowing us take leave of absence while the guys are still playing here. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

A 'cricket wife' is just about the dream partner for Peter Gillespie, who has played 116 times for Ireland. "I've been brought up with cricket through my ancestors, " says Ciara. "It's always been cricket through both sides of my family. Tommy Gallagher of Sion Mills was my grandfather. On my mother's side I'm descended from Andy McFarlane [one of the greatest batsmen ever to play for Ireland]." Her three younger brothers play too, with Ryan Gallagher an under-15 international.

There is little women's cricket in that part of the country. "I have never played it but I really understand it well since I started going out with Peter [they first met at Strabane CC six years ago]. Back then I never enjoyed watching it. It was boring."

Like all the women, Ciara has to get used to her partner being away for long periods. Since early January the squad have played in South Africa, Kenya, Abu Dhabi, Trinidad, Jamaica and now Guyana. In that time they spent 12 days at home . . . and most of them at training.

"It can be very hard, " says Ciara. "We went through quite a lot at the start too, but it's been worthwhile for things like this. I do try to be as understanding and supportive as possible. I suppose being brought up with cricket it helps, because I've understood it from day one. Peter's been in the Irish team since I met him so I've always known what I was getting myself into. . . But obviously since Christmas it's been very intense."

The pair got married last September and gave up their honeymoon to allow him prepare for this World Cup. "We were planning to get a few extra days in Jamaica after the cricket was over but the way things have worked out we get a lot more time together."

Captain Trent Johnston's wife, Vanessa, played the game at first-team level for Trinity and Leinster. And again, it was cricket that brought them together. "We met at Leinster. We were friends for about a year before romance entered the equation, but within a fortnight I had sold the car, rented the apartment, resigned from my job and decided to give Australia a go for a year. I stayed for eight and the rest is history."

Lynne McCallan and Ydele Steele have been good friends for years. Their partners . . . Lynne's husband Kyle and Ydele's fiance Andrew White . . . are Ireland's spin-bowlers. Each couple met at university where they all studied sports science. All four are now PE teachers, with White recently securing a job alongside his teammate at Grosvenor High School.

Lynne hated cricket before she met Kyle. "It was one of those things if it came up on TV I'd say, 'Where's the remote?'" she says. "It was so long and you never really know who's winning.

But it's been a case of if you can't beat them, join them."

Coach Adrian Birrell's wife Susan didn't need any encouragement to join them.

She was a cricket nut from an early age.

"I was a keen supporter of the local games at St George's in Port Elizabeth, " she said. "I was one of the fanatical ones who queued at 4am to get tickets for those rebel tours that came to South Africa." But like most of the team's partners, she has never played the game. "I never had any interest in playing, I just enjoyed watching the game. When I was of school-going age it was never offered as something to the girls. But even when I could have played it later I said, 'No thanks. Not for me.'" Susan Birrell has had to sacrifice a lot to watch her husband fulfil his dream. A chartered accountant, she was a partner in Deloittes in South Africa when he was considering applying for the job of coaching cricket in a north Atlantic island.

"I did tell him to think long and hard about it, " she says, "just because I knew it would be a big commitment. But it was the logical next step for him. He had been coaching Eastern Province for three years and was at a kind of crossroads. I said, 'Go for it and we'll see what happens.' And he was successful, so we moved!

"I decided there was probably more opportunity for me to advance my career at a later stage than Adrian. It would be a lot easier for me to get back into it than he would. I did have one little condition though when he was offered the job with Ireland. I said he could only take it if I could arrange a transfer with my firm."

With their first son Luke, now 8, the Birrells took the long trek north to Malahide, Co Dublin. Susan joined Deloittes and late last year was again promoted to partner. With the World Cup providing a natural full stop to Adrian's tenure as coach, he announced that he would step down after this adventure is over.

With two lively sons . . . Christopher was born in Dublin two years ago . . . "It is always a balancing act, " Susan explains.

"It is one of the factors that Adrian considered when he resigned from the Ireland job. We both travel a lot with our jobs which is difficult when it comes to managing the children. A decision was taken that as I was made partner in Dublin that I would need to focus on my career for a while. He's going to stay in cricket in some way but more to facilitate our sons as I did."

But what if some big cricket power came knocking at the door? There are likely to be some huge jobs available after this World Cup and Birrell's achievements here will put him in the running.

"It's very difficult, " Susan grins. "I told him not to rule anything out. We'll take it as it comes."

Vanessa Johnston, too, has had to make huge sacrifices in her life with Trent. "We had a five-day honeymoon during a Saturday/Saturday two-day game. Trent was away for our first five wedding anniversaries. But he is the man I first met in 1995 and I always knew that sport would be an important part of his life and of who he is."

The Johnstons were in Australia when a friend realised he now qualified to wear the shamrock through marriage.

They decided to sell up in Sydney and return to Dublin.

"We both agreed that we didn't want to find ourselves in Australia watching Ireland competing in the World Cup and say, 'We could have been there.' Trent had had a number of disappointments through cricket . . . losing his New South Wales contract before he'd really had a chance to prove his worth was soul destroying for him.

"We sold everything and the night before we travelled we looked at each other and said, 'What are we doing?' It was very scary and the first year back was very hard. TJ had a job lined up which fell through; I was working and he was at home looking after the kids. The only thing that really went to plan was the cricket. Looking back I wouldn't change a thing and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We are stronger for the shared experience."

There's certainly been no cliched 'waggish' behaviour on this trip. Kingston and Georgetown provide few opportunities for shopping binges and the women seem happiest going out for meals and having a quiet rum punch at the hotel bar to close the day.

While they come from diverse backgrounds and age groups . . . and only Vanessa, Susan and Jeremy Bray's wife Geraldine have children . . . they get on well together.

"The Wags are a great bunch, " says Vanessa. "We all enjoy a bit of fun. I would be closest to Maedbh LangfordSmith who is a great friend, and to Geraldine, but we don't see each other much as she is based in Kilkenny. I hope postWorld Cup we can do more as a group because I think it takes the pressure off the guys if we are self-sufficient!"