Ireland - To Whatever End

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futureblackcap said:
Ireland have done a bit of that but nowhere near enough. They have about a three month break at the moment I think and this is because the lower ranked teams such as Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, West Indies are scared of playing them.
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I think it's more to do with scheduling conflicts rather than fear. The calendar is so packed now there is little time to fit in much more cricket.

troll3y said:
I was hoping Ireland would put a better showing against Australia A. Paul Sterling's innings lived up to his name, but the depleted batting lineup showed its fragility. You don't always see two declarations on the same day's play (three if you include Aus A's overnight first-innings declaration), but losing 92 overs to rain over the first two days will change the game. It would have been nice to see Ireland bat some more against (effectively) a Test bowling lineup.

I fear that the uninformed will take a passing glance at this scorecard and unfairly conclude that the Irish aren't ready for Test cricket. Regardless, if Ireland and the other leading Associates don't get to play Test teams outside of global events, games against national 'A' teams are the best consolation. This needs to become commonplace, especially for Ireland.
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They need to play much more cricket against "A" sides, one off games such as this one are no good if they happen once a year, there's no real scope for development in the odd game. With a lot of the Irish guys playing county cricket, I would have thought Ireland would spend time in their summer playing practice games against "A" sides or even some state teams (Western Australia, New South Wales, Canterbury etc).

The ICC need to smarten up in this area and actually give Ireland an opportunity to develop themselves to the point where they are bashing down the door of playing test cricket.
 
Ljp86 said:
I think it's more to do with scheduling conflicts rather than fear. The calendar is so packed now there is little time to fit in much more cricket.
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Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have anything but "packed" schedules. That might be true for the "big four nations" in England, India, South Africa and Australia because they cram their schedules with pointless 7 match ODI series against each other.

They are playing against the A sides at the moment. They just recently played against Australia A which was a mainly Ashes bowling line-up and Stirling scored a superb century. My point is, if the world game was restructured then teams like Ireland COULD be fitted into the schedule. Each separate board shouldn't be arranging tours and series, the ICC should schedule all tours at the start of the year and make sure that Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland and Afghanistan get at least one competitive series or tournament against the top eight nations. There is many that would find this much more interesting and refreshing that repeatedly having the same teams play each other...over and over and over again.
 
Ljp86 said:
They need to play much more cricket against "A" sides, one off games such as this one are no good if they happen once a year, there's no real scope for development in the odd game. With a lot of the Irish guys playing county cricket, I would have thought Ireland would spend time in their summer playing practice games against "A" sides or even some state teams (Western Australia, New South Wales, Canterbury etc).
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This year marked the launch of Ireland's top-tier domestic structure, so any players not playing County are instead playing in the Interprovincial Championship. This is absolutely crucial so that a) Cricket Ireland can tick the box that says it must have a structured domestic competition before it can become a Test member, and b) encourage and mentor the currently low numbers in the talent pool. Ireland's current national team is great, but it does need to strengthen its spine for the future, and it's important that its domestic structure gets off the ground. Looking at Ireland's fixtures, the national team did/does get some quality games this summer, including their WCL fixtures, but it isn't nearly enough and it needs to be done with consistency, as you say.

Meanwhile, England and Ireland should look to organise a similar setup to the (supposedly) annual Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
 
troll3y said:
This year marked the launch of Ireland's top-tier domestic structure, so any players not playing County are instead playing in the Interprovincial Championship. This is absolutely crucial so that a) Cricket Ireland can tick the box that says it must have a structured domestic competition before it can become a Test member, and b) encourage and mentor the currently low numbers in the talent pool. Ireland's current national team is great, but it does need to strengthen its spine for the future, and it's important that its domestic structure gets off the ground. Looking at Ireland's fixtures, the national team did/does get some quality games this summer, including their WCL fixtures, but it isn't nearly enough and it needs to be done with consistency, as you say.
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I agree completely. Hopefully Ireland add a couple more teams next season as they planned so the Irish can strengthen the back-bone of Irish cricket as you said.

troll3y said:
Meanwhile, England and Ireland should look to organise a similar setup to the (supposedly) annual Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
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To be fair, England do play Ireland every year but they always send an 'A' type side and a proper series would make it more meaningful for England.
 
I think the biggest challenge is to somehow change the overwhelming mindset that any cricket outside the top eight Test nations is boring and irrelevant. The media and the fans need to start looking out for not just the Associates, but for their respective national 'A' teams, women's teams, and under-19 teams. Let's not forget the blind teams, either; even indoor cricket can get a mention. We sometimes make the cricketing world much smaller than it actually is; with so much focus and hype on the top Test teams, we can have such focalised tunnel-vision that we forget everyone else beneath them. The national Boards and media have to stop looking at Bangladesh and Zimbabwe as write-offs and start classifying Ireland, Afghanistan, and the Netherlands as worthy competitors that will one day competitively vie for the Test mace.
 
I was just reading up on Daniel Doram. At lunch on day one, he's picked up a wicket four months before his 16th birthday.


futureblackcap said:
It's not Ireland but check out this kid. Debuting for the Dutch today at the age of 14! Both the Irish and the Dutch have fielded almost development sides for their first Intercontinental Cup matches. Good to see so many young guys getting a go.
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I assumed that was to do with player availability more than anything else. Players at Associate level aren't full-time cricketers, remember. They have other jobs too, and sometimes they aren't able to leave them to play a game of cricket.
 
That's the unfortunate thing about international cricket at the associate and especially the affiliate levels.

Ireland are currently 111 for 2 with John Anderson not out on 53.
 
Ireland all out for 332 with Anderson getting his first ton in Irish colours, Mooney with 63 and captain KOB with 48. For the Dutch, the best bowler was the young prodigy Doram...taking five Irish wickets on debut! Pieter Seelar chipped in with two as well.
 
Ireland just need to beat the Netherlands again to book them a place in WC 2015. They thrashed them last night, thanks to KOB's 4 for 13, Porty's 79 and brother O'Brien's 70.
 
Ireland are the first team to qualify for WC with last night's tie with the Netherlands.

Ireland are easily winning the WCL and IC again.
 
Very happy.


That second Ireland-Nethelands ODI was an intriguing result, nonetheless. If Afghanistan wins both of their games in Namibia next month, it'll leave three teams on equal points going into the last round. Scotland have their work cut out away to Ireland, and Afghanistan has to win emphatically to overturn their NRR deficit. I think Canada will put up a fight at home, but their tournament record suggests that it won't be victorious. It's honestly very hard to pick a winner. I don't think it'll be Scotland, though if I had to guess, I'd say the Netherlands' NRR will see them through.
 
futureblackcap said:
I wonder why Canada has had a horrid tournament.
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Canada have been horrid in both one-day and four-day formats. They seem flimsy and unseasoned, perhaps relying too heavily on the Patels, Hansras, Cheemas, and Osindes in the team. It hurts that there's no consistency in the team selection (which, at Associate level, can't all be blamed on the Board and selectors), and so you see a lot of players who play one or two games and make mediocre scores before missing the next game(s).

To be fair, they're not getting hammered in every game -- they compete well all the time, but they're not that successful in finishing off and getting over the line. They just need a bit more decisiveness, I guess; more conviction, stability, and tenacity and better finishing.
 
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