The one-day series between India and South Africa arranged for Stormont in June could now be moved to Dublin with the two test nations games against Ireland moving north. There is speculation that the upsurge in interest in the south . . . and the larger South Asian community there . . . would make a switch prudent. A decision is expected in the next few days.

There should be an enormous welcome for the Irish team from those who enjoyed their performances over the last five weeks. So far there is no plan for an open-topped bus, but it is likely plenty of supporters will converge on Dublin Airport on Tuesday when BD127 touches down at 2.45pm. There won't be much free time for the players either: The sponsors host a reception for the team the following evening and the ultimate accolade of a grateful nation . . . an appearance on the Late Late Show . . . awaits on Friday night.

With the north's First and Deputy First Minister also keen to meet the players, Phil Simmons mightn't see an awful lot of them before they turn up at Stormont.

The prolonged stay in Grenada gave them a chance to take the 'Crossbar Challenge' for Sky's Soccer AM show. Our mole reports the players attempts were "rubbish" . . .

the point of the game is to hit the crossbar from the halfway line . . . with only Man O'War's left-half forward Johnny Mooney coming close. Boyd Rankin did hit the crossbar, but only on the second bounce.

The man-of-the-match awards won by Jeremy Bray, Niall O'Brien and Will Porterfield count on a points table towards a man of the tournament prize. Each award earns three points, but there are also two and one points to the 'runners-up' in the poll of commentators that decides the prize. O'Brien is still in the top 10 of this table with five points, ahead of such stars as Gibbs, Oram, Fleming and Chanderpaul. Bray and Porterfield have three points each, but several other Irishmen are ranked:

Andre Botha and Trent Johnston have two each and Boyd Rankin, Andrew White and Kevin O'Brien one.

A great cricket supporter died at his home in Dublin last week. Peter Ashe (pictured below) was an Englishman who brought wit, passion and knowledge to his support of the various club sides he watched, primarily Trinity.

He worked on the staff of the university and was a conspicuous presence in College Park for most of the 1980s and 1990s where he barracked for the cricket and rugby sides with his trademark 'TRINIT-EEEEE'. He was also to be found at times in Pembroke and Clontarf where his support was welcomed. Ashe was never a mere 'fan': he saw his role as 'supporter' and his duty to offer support, particularly to struggling sides. "Asher was unique in many respects, " said former Trinity captain Michael Rea, "and at his best in College Park."

The suspicion that non-test sides get the rough end of the umpiring may be borne out by new statistics compiled by Brian O'Sullivan for the CricketEurope website.

Counting leg-before-wicket calls in games between test and associate nations, he has come up with a serious imbalance of how these were awarded. In warm-up games there were 12 given to test sides and none given in return. In the group stage the test teams 'won' by 22-5, while in the Super Eight phase Ireland had nine lbws against and a solitary one given (McCallan trapped Fulton of New Zealand). The imbalance is 43-6 in the 26 games, a gulf that cannot be explained away easily.