Next Test Nation???

[andruid]

They didn't unfortunately but good to see Waters in the runs nevertheless. Hopefully he gets selected for the South African one dayers.

Also I know Tanmay Mishra is at University in India but doesn’t he get holidays and can’t he represent Kenya during say summer vacation? Looked a good player from what I saw of him and it’s a shame that he maybe lost to Kenya for the next three years or more.

Apparently no one at Criket Kenya can quite get a hold of him, but he is a special talent and the battibg would be so much more solid with him at 5. Hopeully he becomes available aftre uni.

 

[BoyBrumby]

What Ireland needs at this point is to make some deal with the ECB to get into the County Championship. Can't be worse for the English game than Kolpaks.

I'd like to see it, personally. I think an Ireland team based (mainly) in Dublin would offer more than certain Kolpak-loaded east midlands counties.

There's a precedent too: Catalans Dragons & (from next season) Celtic Crusaders will play in the English Super League. Surely cricket can't be more parochial than rugby league?

 

[Goughy]

I'd like to see it, personally. I think an Ireland team based (mainly) in Dublin would offer more than certain Kolpak-loaded east midlands counties.

There's a precedent too: Catalans Dragons & (from next season) Celtic Crusaders will play in the English Super League. Surely cricket can't be more parochial than rugby league?

I dont mind it in principle. However, I dont think it is practical.

Firstly, the Counties only survive on ECB handouts based on Test, ODI and TV revenue. Ireland would not be able to survive and compete without this hand out and there is no way ECB should use its precious finances to subsidise Irish full time cricket.

Secondly, unless counties disappeared, it would further dilute the talent in the CC.

Id, possibly, be more in favour of a secondary Euro FC championship with Irish, Scots, Neth, and maybe Denmark and an English minor County or 2 (Cambs or whereever)

EDIT- Very tired. Im sure there is more than the usual spelling mistakes in this post.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I dont mind it in principle. However, I dont think it is practical.

Firstly, the Counties only survive on ECB handouts based on Test, ODI and TV revenue. Ireland would not be able to survive and compete without this hand out and there is no way ECB should use its precious finances to subsidise Irish full time cricket.

Secondly, unless counties disappeared, it would further dilute the talent in the CC.

Id, possibly, be more in favour of a secondary Euro FC championship with Irish, Scots, Neth, and maybe Denmark and an English minor County or 2 (Cambs or whereever)

EDIT- Very tired. Im sure there is more than the usual spelling mistakes in this post.

Pros & cons, obviously, but if the ECB takes the long game view they'd potentially be gaining an important ready-made voting ally if Ireland were ever to attain test status. Although I suspect that very idea might be an issue in them not gaining it too, unfortunately.

WRT subsidies, currently a lot of the ECB's handouts seem to end up in southern African players' retirement funds anyway, so it's swings and roundabouts, really.

& I'm not exactly a passionate advocate of the reduction of FC entities in the UK, but I do think it's an unpalatable truth that must be dealt with sooner or later.

 

[Goughy]

Pros & cons, obviously, but if the ECB takes the long game view they'd potentially be gaining an important ready-made voting ally if Ireland were ever to attain test status. Although I suspect that very idea might be an issue in them not gaining it too, unfortunately.

WRT subsidies, currently a lot of the ECB's handouts seem to end up in southern African players' retirement funds anyway, so it's swings and roundabouts, really.

& I'm not exactly a passionate advocate of the reduction of FC entities in the UK, but I do think it's an unpalatable truth that must be dealt with sooner or later.

Funnily enough, I was reading a letter to the Times from 1929 (dont ask why) last night. Its topic was that the original 8 Counties dominated and how there was too much deadwood in the CC.

I guess times change but topics dont.

Re: ECB funding an Irish county. I dont believe it is in their mandate and I dont think English FC counties would agree to their share being cut.

 

[GIMH]

I'd like to see it, personally. I think an Ireland team based (mainly) in Dublin would offer more than certain Kolpak-loaded east midlands counties.

There's a precedent too: Catalans Dragons & (from next season) Celtic Crusaders will play in the English Super League. Surely cricket can't be more parochial than rugby league?

Always thought the E stood for "European"

 

[laksh_01]

After Ireland's third victory in Intercontinental Cup final & growing profile for the game in the nation, I bet Ireland to be a Test Nation by 2013 or from next FTP....

 

[potato_25]

in my opinion ireland cos they have had some good performances on the international stage in ODI's e.g. the world cup in the west indies where they got into the super 8 ahead of pakistan

 

[Faisal1985]

Don't know how good is Kenya doing recently, but they seem to be one of the top contenders for test cap....

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Definitely CW XI.

 

[Richard]

Was gonna ask why this "Benaud" character was banned but I guess this explains it:

HDS, have you ever ****ed a parrot?

bye.

Love the simplicity from the boss.

 

[brockley]

afghanistan now more likely to produce more elite cricketers than ireland or kenya.

 

[Migara]

IRE vs AFG are playing at dambulla, SL ATM. This looks like a good Dambulla pitch. The weakness of Irish against spin is evident, and how their pace attak is rendered toothless on a flattish track is also evident. I would say in two years AFG will leapfrog IRE. As Irish, Afgani's are also very strongly built people, and they have subcontintal touch to their play in addition. If they can get rid of bad qualities that their neighbours possess, they are bound to produce many exciting cricketers.

 

[Richard]

Afghanistan have been a highly interesting prospect for quite a few years now and they're one of the rare cases where a team genuinely does seem to be making real progress, and quickly as well.

Nonetheless, of course, the idea of Afghanistan currently hosting international cricket is clearly completely OOTQ and won't change any time soon either.

 

[Faisal1985]

Personally think Ireland is over rated.......

 

[NasserFan207]

Personally think Ireland is over rated.......

Because we beat you?

Anyway, I really rate Afghanistan. The cricket boom over there is obviously due to the conditions of the country, football and cricket take people's minds of the complete ****hole of a situation they find themselves in.

That said, don't write of the Irish. We're improving (slowly, but cricket is starting to grow), and we've got some good youngsters coming through.

 

[TT Boy]

Afghans won.

 

[Uppercut]

Monster collapse. Lost the Intercontinental Cup too.

We're several stages beyond hopeless on the subcontinent so this tour's a good opportunity to improve on that. Lost to Afghanistan in the World Cup qualifiers too on a similar surface. Bit of an antithesis to Pakistan, hopeless at handling a lack of pace and bounce.

 

[Migara]

Monster collapse. Lost the Intercontinental Cup too.

We're several stages beyond hopeless on the subcontinent so this tour's a good opportunity to improve on that. Lost to Afghanistan in the World Cup qualifiers too on a similar surface. Bit of an antithesis to Pakistan, hopeless at handling a lack of pace and bounce.

This wicket was on slower side, but not a monster urner by any stretch of imagination. We are finally seeing holes in the play of Associates. Irish looked accomplished on pacier tracks, but their weakness is well shown on slower pitches. Interesting to see what would have been if Boyd Rankin did bowl in the match.

This shows the importance in playing with better Associates when you are minnows. SL did play lot of away cricket with Zimbabwe in early 80s even after gaining test status. And they played lot of A sides as well, and their meteoric rise to test standard is very evident after that. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe should play more with stronger Associates like Irish and Kenyans, and with stronger A sides like AUS, IND, SAf and SL. That will help to improve their game immensely. Irish also should play the A sides of better test nations regularly, and the experiance will help them a lot.

 

[Uppercut]

Totally agree. It's not the spin that gets us. We're not exactly masters of it, but pitches at Stormont turn quite regularly so it's not anything new. It is actually just the slowness and low bounce of a pitch that we have trouble adjusting to.