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Niall OBriens unborn grandchildren will hear some great stories one day. Like the one of how his mate stole a stump from Sabina Park after a World Cup win against Pakistan. Or the international cap he was given at 14 after he gave throwdowns to one of the games greats.But the impressive paraphernalia only tells part of the story. At 34, hes nearer the twilight than the sunrise of his career. And beneath the trophies, scorecards and newspaper clippings are tales and memories more meaningful than those that hang on the wall. As with most people, its the formative memories that mean most.OBrien, speaking ahead of Irelands match against Australia in Benoni today, was set to be the only man to have played in each encounter between the two nations this century before he was ruled out with a concussion. His first was at the 2007 World Cup, where he watched 24-year-old Shaun Taits first ball from the relative comfort of the pavilion.Gilchrist mustve been 30 yards back and just caught it as it was flying over his head, OBrien said. He had [Matthew] Hayden next to him, and maybe [Andrew] Symonds. I just remember them yahooing and yelling.I was sitting inside and just thought, Oh f***.OBrien came in soon after and, facing Tait, was bowled first ball. It was a full toss; the ball registered at 94.2 miles an hour. His coach, Adi Birrell, asked what happened. OBrien said he just didnt see it.He has played against Australia four times since and fared better. He feels the days of Australia playing Ireland for a hit-out are gone.They dont hold back. Last year, I copped a bit from a few of their boys. They think Ive got a bit of a strut about me - both myself and Kev [OBriens brother Kevin]. People like [David] Warner were getting stuck in. I would have thought he had a bit of a strut as well. He was definitely having a few words.I like it. I actually revel in it. If I go out and face [Mitchell] Starc or [Pat] Cummins or [Nathan] Coulter-Nile and Ive got Warner sledging me from point, actually Im enjoying that.While many pretend to enjoy the Australian approach, OBrien truly does. His connection with Australia runs deeper than for most and was forged over many summers in Sydney. It was here he cut his teeth in Australias most notorious cricketing back alley: the Sydney Grade competition.At the turn of the century, a connection with Trent Johnston saw OBrien arrive in Australia as a fresh, albeit pale, 19-year-old. He would play for Mosman. An Ireland representative at every underage level to that date, he was accustomed to a place in the top side wherever he was. His first selection night changed that, when Peter Philpott delivered some news.Percy was a great man and I was his lodger when I arrived, OBrien says. He put his arm around me and said, Youre in second grade. Then he said, Ive got a bit of bad news on top of that. Youll be batting No.10. And I thought, Hold on a minute. Im an opening batsman!OBrien didnt mind being selected in second grade, but batting so low was staggering. I remember ringing my dad and saying, Im batting No. 10! I couldnt believe it. Then Percy said, Irish, do me a favour. Between now and Christmas, every time you go out and bat, just put a big price on your wicket. Get yourself 8 not out, 10 not out, 14 not out…So OBrien did. Before long, he was given his chance up the order when Jimmy Nuts Sinclair had to urgently leave for work in Melbourne. OBrien made a decent score and stayed there for the season. His perseverance had been rewarded, and he enjoyed his cricket in some illustrious company for the remainder of his time there.I got to mix around with guys like Brett Lee, his brother Shane, Andrew Strauss and Shoaib Akhtar.Shoaib was great. He used to turn up each week with a bucket of KFC and a woman on each arm and bowl about a million miles an hour, then go home again, or back to Cargo Bar or wherever hed come from on the morning of the match.Whats striking is, OBriens memory is equally clear about team-mates known to nobody outside Sydneys North Shore. He speaks fondly of characters called Yatesy, Groovy, Pauly and Grover. These people shaped his cricketing adventure as much as anyone and helped him through his introduction to grade cricket.At Mosman I learnt about the toughness and harsh reality of grade cricket. The standard is very good, and you get nothing for free.A few years later OBrien arrived again in Australia. This time he lined up with North Sydney, a club that once played home to Sir Donald Bradman and Bill OReilly, and who played their cricket at the picturesque North Sydney Oval. It was here OBrien received his first crack in the top grade after the incumbent, Nigel Taylor, pulled out on the morning of the match with a back injury.I was meant to be playing seconds and two of my best friends - Pyad and Paddy had just turned up from Ireland for a year-long trip, OBrien says. I went out with them for a few pints on Friday and had a few too many, truth be told. I thought, Ah, Im playing twos tomorrow, Ill be all right. Im in a bit of nick and a few pints cant hurt me.He was just getting to sleep at around 5.30am when the club president called and told him that the keeper was injured and that hed be needed in first grade.I thought: this is awesome. But I hadnt slept. So I got a couple of hours sleep, then jumped in a cab over to Bear Park. I got to the oval and my skipper, Jimmy Jack, says, Mate, youre in good form, I want you to bat three.As was par for the course at the Bears, we were one down early. I walk out with two hours sleep under my belt and just remember getting sledged from ball one.I eventually turned around and said, Whos this bloke sledging me? And it was a wicketkeeper by the name of Daniel Smith. He proceeded to sledge me from ball one to pretty much 5.32pm, when I got out for 116.I thought, This is bizarre. Ive never met this bloke before. It wouldnt happen in Ireland. Youd only sledge someone if there was really bad blood. I was just a little Irish lad walking out to bat whos had two hours sleep - I didnt deserve it!So I thought, Okay, if this is how they want to play, then I will mix it with these boys.My two friends Paddy and Pyad turned up at about 5pm to see me get my hundred. The state of you, lad! they said. Then we went back to the pub and all of a sudden I was the club presidents best mate. He wanted to sign me on the spot.When they returned for day two the following week, OBrien received assurance from his opening bowler, Newcastle product Matt Baker, that hed take care of Smitty. The prophecy was true; Smith was dismissed early, caught behind by OBrien. He chuckles while recalling the specific names of each team-mate that gave Smith a bit of a gobful - names like Burto, Pidgey and Bakes.It wasnt all bravado and bluster on the field, though. Sometimes the mood changed when the opposition took time to learn a little more about OBrien.We were playing in Campbelltown. Id played my cricket in North Sydney and Mosman. I was used to the Sydney way of life. Next thing I know, Im out at Raby Oval: its two hours away, you pay a toll, its a million degrees and flies the size of your hand. One of their quicks was all effin this, effin that, effin Pom.I was on about 5 or 6 at the time and I said, All right bud, Im actually Irish, and he goes, Oh sorry, youre all right then!Now were walking off the field and theyre all talking to me, saying things like, So where are you from in Ireland? Howve you found Australia? and Im thinking, What is going on here?****Like many who were born in the 80s, Australia was OBriens cricketing reference point. He grew up in a little village called Sandymount in Dublin. The tradition in his house was to watch the Boxing Day Test on Christmas night.Wed all watch the first session together before drifting off at half one, but Id always stay up for the second session. Even now when I go home for Christmas, my mum will ask whether Im staying up for the Test. Someone in my family always gets me a case of VB or Carlton on Christmas, so I can sit up and have an Aussie beer while watching the Test.Asked whether he had a hero, he name-checks the usuals: Slater, Taylor, Langer - all pugnacious opening batsmen in their own right. He then takes a breath and lets the silence hang, as if to clear a path for someone regal. Steve Waugh was my ideal hero.More than any other Australian cricket icon, Waugh seems to be the subject of life-affirming stories from members of the public. So it is with OBrien.He coached me when he was in Ireland for a four-week stint. He was playing for Ireland against Australia A. I had a souvenir Australian hat. Steve Waugh was doing a training session down at Pembroke Cricket Club and he said to me, Whered you get the cap?I explained and he pointed to his own one-day cap and said, At the end of the tour, this cap is yours. OBrien was unconvinced. I thought, Yeah, sure thing…Four weeks later, Waugh played for Ireland against Australia A at Waringstown, Belfast. OBrien was there.My dad and I were sitting by the boundary edge when he came over, tapped me on the shoulder and said, Youve got to earn that cap now. I said, What do you mean? and he said, How about a few throwdowns? So there I was giving Steve Waugh throwdowns, aged 14, and afterwards he says, Theres your cap.****Australian cricket has always been big for me, says OBrien. Though for many aspiring cricketers in the northern hemisphere, the grade cricket breeding ground isnt as palatable as it once was. A lot of the English guys at home get two or three hits a week, and when they go over [to Australia] they say, We dont get to bat enough. I looked at it the other way. If Im only going to bat twice a month I thought, I better be at training and when I do get out in the middle, to make sure I make it count.OBrien plays the game hard, and while he feels thats an innate trait, he does recognise the impact of grade cricket on his own approach, and worries about the influence of academy culture on young cricketers making their way through the game.A lot of Australian cricket and their mentality and way of life has been instilled in me, and for me, grade cricket was fantastic cricket.But as good as all these academies are here, in Australia and around the world - and they do a lot of good things - I think they detract a lot from what you learn on the field, what you learn from good times, bad times, being around experienced cricketers… I think theyre sheltering a lot of cricketers from the harsh realities of cricket.A lot of them have been brought up in the English academies and spoon-fed or wrapped up in cotton wool to a certain extent, whereas I just played in my garden and whatever facility I could get a hit on, Id get a hit on.His time in grade cricket was a perfect example.Youd go to North Sydney No. 2 and if the groundsman hasnt bothered to put the covers on and its pissed raining all afternoon, then so be it. Youd get a ten-minute hit against the seamers and a ten-minute hit against the spinners, and my aim would just be to not lose my wicket.Whether Im hit on the inside thigh 18 times or Ive got 44 inches of bruising… if I havent got out, then that will stand me in good stead for the weekend.Unfortunately, he wont be striding out against Australia today. If he had done, it would have been as one of his countrys best ever cricketers, and bringing with him an appreciation for the Australian way, both on the field and off.I think theyve got some good characters in there, the Aussies. Off the pitch theyre a pretty good bunch of lads. Theyre not shy of sharing a beer or having a chat around the bar at the hotel, and they always say hello in the morning.While Australian cricket hasnt entirely made him who he is, OBrien has been indelibly instilled with its spirit wherever he plays.Wholesale Yeezy Authentic . 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President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East.WASHINGTON -- The Cleveland Cavaliers were in the nations capital Thursday for a White House meeting with President Barack Obama.They did not head home right away.Instead, they stuck around for Fridays game with the Washington Wizards.LeBron James and his teammates need a return to their title-winning form or a second straight loss could occur especially if John Wall keeps his emotions in check.The Cavaliers (6-1) suffered their first loss of their season Tuesday as the Atlanta Hawks hung tough for a 110-106 win. Cleveland twice rallied from double-digit deficits in the second half, but could not finish the job despite James scoring 21 of his 23 points in the second half. Shooting only 37.4 percent from the field including 11 of 42 on 3-pointers didnt help.Its our game. Its what we do, James said of the numerous shots from long range. We had some pretty good looks. Were a team that when the ball is moving and youre the recipient of it, you have to let it go. You never want to second-guess yourself.Cleveland leads the league in 35.7 3-point attempts per game. The Cavaliers are in the top-10 in 3-point shooting percentage at 36.4 percent and have four players who make at least 35 percent from behind the arc.Wall wishes he had another chance concerning his late game decision in Washingtons 118-93 romp over the Boston Celtics.The three-time All-Star guard was whistled for a Flagrant 2 foul against Marcus Smart in the final minutes of the blowout with the Wizards up 20 points in their best start-to-finish performance of the season.It was just me getting frustrated, said Wall, who was also ejected late in Mondays losss to the Houston Rockets for making contact with an official.dddddddddddd I had my fingers bleeding, they got stepped-on on purpose. I drove to the basket a couple times and didnt get calls. The play before that, I was dribbling and got smacked right across the face to my ear. I just let my frustration get the best of me.Even with Wall getting frustrated, it was a satisfying night for the Wizards, especially Otto Porter.Porter got the best of the Celtics with a career-high 34 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Washingtons starting small forward made his first three 3-pointers and outscored Boston 13-8 in the first quarter. The Wizards led 34-8 entering the second period and were never truly threatened.Otto has been great, Washington coach Scott Brooks said. He gives you a lot of winning basketball plays. You can look at his field goal percentage, you can look at all the things that he does; his mid-range game, his three-point shot has developed, his offensive rebounds. But what he gives you, he gives you a winning spirit, and he does that throughout the game on both ends. The Wizards will need plenty from Porter against the Cavaliers regardless, but especially if Bradley Beal doesnt play. Beal left in the third quarter with right hamstring tightness.Beal had an MRI Thursday and was listed as questionable for Friday. Last year he missed 27 games with leg injuries.Cleveland and Washington split four games last season and the road team has won 12 of the last 22 meetings. ' ' '