The discontent was not helped by the lack of senior players selected for the match on Tuesday when the grand opening will take place of Cricket Ireland’s new ground in Malahide, north Dublin, where nearly 10,000 fans will make up the biggest gate for a cricket match in this country.
The fact that England will be led by an Irishman, Eoin Morgan who started at Malahide Cricket Club, and Boyd Rankin, from Derry, could open the bowling only stirs the pot further.
"There could be a bit of disgruntlement. I suppose to the new cricket fan in Ireland, they don’t fully understand or appreciate the reasons why he [Morgan] went to play for England and that could be the fans perception," Kevin O’Brien, the Ireland all-rounder, said.
Officials from Cricket Ireland were diplomatic on Monday and there has been an assurance behind the scenes from senior officials at the England and Wales Cricket Board that it will not pick any players named in Ireland’s 30-man extended squad for the 2015 World Cup.
Meanwhile, Will Porterfield, the Ireland captain, believes that Rankin could be the last Irish player to make the move to England if their dream of Test status comes true.
"It is frustrating to lose your best players but it is all credit to us for producing those players as well," Porterfield said. "As long as we are producing those players and showing we can host events like this then hopefully a lot of young Irish cricketers coming through will not have to take that step of playing for England.
"It will be a no-brainer in that you stay here as we will have an international calendar."
Key to that will be playing Test cricket. Cricket Ireland launched a three-day domestic tournament this summer, which it hopes will gain first-class status within three years, and the aim is to be able to play at Test level by 2020, an incentive that Morgan believes is vital to prevent players from copying his lead.
"The fact it’s still not there means the same subject keeps cropping up and if you have a young, ambitious guy who wants to play Test cricket he’s going to look elsewhere.
"It’s unfortunate but it’s the nature of playing cricket in Ireland and for Ireland," he said. "If you watched any of the Test matches this summer you’re dreaming if you think anything has changed. The Ashes is everything. The rivalry, the hype and the standard of cricket and how everyone adores and admires the guys playing in it should drive you to want to play cricket."
The reality is that the ECB is in a difficult position. It offers Irish players a path to Test cricket and in a packed international calendar one-off trips to Ireland for fixtures without context are hard to justify for coaches who want to rest cricketers for Ashes series.
"For the ECB, they’re probably damned if they do and damned if they don’t," said Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland.
"England sent over what purported to be an understrength team in 2006, 2009, 2011 and they’ve beaten us each time. So it's difficult for us to talk about how the B team is in some way disparaging Ireland."
England made few friends the last time they played here in 2009. They appeared as reluctant visitors spending less than 36 hours in the country and flying home as soon as the game ended.
This time England will stay an extra night and picking young players with a point to prove rather than those weary after the Ashes, could help Ireland put on a show.
The weather forecast is good and the ground, set in the environs of Malahide Castle, an attractive venue to promote Ireland's credentials to Dave Richardson, the chief executive of the Internional Cricket Council, who will be a guest on Tuesday alongside Michael D??Higgins, the President of Ireland.
One of the criteria for Test status at the ICC is to prove a country has a cricket culture and this match, which will also be shown live in India, is a big chance.
"This game is in some ways the embodiment of that culture, we’ll have 10,000 people to watch a game in front of Sky Sports cameras, the president of Ireland, 650 hospitality guests. This is a proper sporting event," Deutrom said.
No comments:
Post a Comment