by sussexpob » Tue Feb 17, 2015 3:26 pm
The reaction after Ireland's victory against the West Indies at the weekend was predictable, with fresh calls for Ireland to be given test status now seemingly spiralling out of control. And while Ireland are proving with recent world cups that they are capable of beating top sides in one off games, are these calls a little premature? Is Ireland even ready for test cricket? ODI cricket can be a lottery, and the very nature of a one innings format means that it doesn't take much for a few wickets to fall in any game and prove to be critical in a result. Test cricket by its nature is more forgiving to such surprises, there are second chances and time to put things right.
The main concern for an Irish Test team has to be lack of resources and domestic structure. While its easy for critics of England to point towards the ECB's selection of Irish players snatching talent away from Ireland, such an opinion ignores the reality of the situation; that there is no first class game in Ireland, and that without English county structure developing and picking Irish talent on the basis that they are seen as de facto English players, virtually all of Ireland's team (and certainly the core quality of their team) would have no avenue towards regular competitive, high class cricket.
Its easy to setup a system or a league and give it first class status, but without the money to invest in facilities, coaches and pay the players a decent wage, would anyone chose to play in it? On the flipside, if Ireland had a team that were regularly playing in the Northern Hemisphere summer, would counties keep on investing talent in Ireland's players knowing that they would now be open to foreign test side?
Its not just a question of quality, but more of finance. The central contract system and international selection by the ECB compensates counties for losing their talent, so even if they do end up playing for a decade more for England, the county benefits. With a foreign board central contracted player, would this be the case? Would counties develop a talent just to see him walk away for free? How would such a contract be structured?
We can already see that even certain English players loyalty between the England team and money can test the waters of a relationship between board and player, most noticeable with IPL cricket. Yet England have the capacity and money to ride out the crest of these waves to an extent, as they pay good money for a central contract. In a world where international cricket financing is now a question of bi-lateral agreements, the wealth divide in cricket is widening considerably, and one has to ask how many Irish players would remain loyal to their board should a call between them and England come? Ireland's best player by far, Ed Joyce, where to Ireland be a test nation, would remain unselected having already chosen to pursue an England career and its benefits, as have others.
In fact, with bilateral agreements and the struggles of even one of the most storied teams in Test crickets history, the West Indies, finding matches enough to pay their players, would the interest in an Irish series generate enough income for a fledging system needing investment to make the necessary base level improvements? If the Windies are bankrupt without one series vs India and its money, how can an non-established nation like Ireland expect to compete? The answer is obviously the natural political relationship in place with England, but would they sacrifice Ashes series or those against India to play Ireland, when already we are seeing a new system that floods us with these types of series, and all but renders other non profit making tours as void? The less money Ireland generate, the more the issues already discussed would compound themselves....
The only way that Ireland can realistically work is to have first class game with their own fostered talent, but in order to enact that would take years and bags of investment in all levels of logistics and structure, and also require much more quality than is at their disposal. Would guys like Joyce flourish at international level if he was only playing against U19 attacks or second XI's? As the points above discuss, if the answer is to rely on English feeder systems and county cricket, I doubt for financial reasons and for playing in prestige conditions, Ireland are likely to maintain board loyalty from their players.... we will still see the best Irish talent going to England if using English feeding systems where players, once at an international pick able class, are qualified through domestic residence. A player who is successful in Ireland cant transfer to England if they were a test nation, so any serious talent would have to be very loyal and give up a much higher salary, and its only loyalty or patriotism they are paid in return.
The last point that can be made is, how much are these results in World Cup's isolated? While its easy to say Ireland are picking up results here and there, I wonder how much this is down to an Ireland team that is fresh, who have little else to prepare for, and who are not like other teams playing huge levels of high level cricket virtually constantly, with huge media interest in their highs and lows, and the pressure that brings?
We have seen in other sports recently, like the FA Cup, that on any given day a team like Bradford can beat Chelsea away, and like Ireland, have made a thing of it in recent years..... but the reality is, when asked to replicate this week in week out, they are a team that struggle 2 divisions below, who do not have the consistency or quality to compete if required all the time.
Ireland's result against the Windies for instance is hardly that surprising. The Windies attack in South Africa gave up one of the highest scores of all time and generally got pasted around for fun, their team has been on strike, their board and players barely communicate, they are nearly bankrupt and they looked utterly clueless against England in the warm ups. They are a team that are as low as a test side can go, both mentally and probably physically, no confidence and little team spirit after contractual disputes after contractual disputes..... I doubt many focused teams with a bit about them would find this team hard to break at the moment. In a way, the same can be said of Pakistan in 2007, after Bob Woolmer's death it all came out about the divisions in the team on religious grounds and the problems they had bubbling under the surface.
Ireland are immune to this at the moment. They haven't been on tour with players who have barely seen their family in a decade, haven't had tough series in alien conditions, against top teams over five days. Nothing can prepare you for that, and can anyone honestly say that the domestic setup is there? That the current team could give any of the test nations a decent go? One of the top bowlers couldn't get a game for Sussex second XI !!!
A bit of reality is needed, as even in Bangladesh where cricket has a huge and passionate following, and with 160 million population and an established FC system, the amount of players of test match quality they have produced has been very poor, and they have hardly got better in 15 plus years..... and in 2005 when they beat Australia in the ODI series in England, we heard the same initial reports of the "false dawn" that was upon us.
Ireland just aren't ready for test cricket, the first step up the ladder is to prove they can actually set up a competitive league structure in their own country.
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