So, the Irish cricket team apparently hates chasing down anything under 300… In another excellent display that rammed home why the Associate-level nations should stay in the ICC World Cup beyond 2011, Ireland produced a very good run-chase against Holland on March 18 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
Paul Stirling clipped 101 off 72 deliveries for the Emerald Isle lads, and, coupled with the win over England earlier in the tournament, a final record of 2-4 would have to be seen as encouraging for captain William Porterfield and the rest of the side.
Of course, victory also beckoned in stages against the West Indies and Bangladesh, but Porterfield told CricInfo.com that consistency with the bat was the only thing yet to be mastered by the Irish.
The Dutch have been less successful, but in an undoubtedly harder group did give England another scare, but the bowlers haven’t always been able to restrict opposing teams to manageable totals for the Oranje batsmen to chase.
Two days earlier, Canada skipper Ashish Bagai told Sriram Veera after the loss to Australia in Bangalore that the Canucks needed more playing time – a familiar gripe from the second tier of the cricketing world.
“It’s important to get the locals to play if we are to get support from corporates or the government,” Bagai said.
“The board is trying to instill it in grass-roots levels in schools…We need to keep playing competitive cricket over the next few years, It would be great if we can have A-team tours from other countries or get to participate in domestic competitions elsewhere.”
However, Bagai added that while Canada, Kenya, Ireland and Holland had all shown varying degrees of improvement in the past month on the subcontinent, six games is not enough on which to build an international legacy.
The fact that both the Irish and Canadians feel they’ve got something out of the Cup – even if neither has made the top eight this time around – is a rebuttal of sorts to Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who was still in two minds about the value of Associate teams on March 12, ahead of the game against Kenya.
He told CricInfo’s Brydon Coverdale that even Ireland’s win over England hadn’t convinced him of the need to retain anything more than the planned 10-team format for the 2015 event, to be held in Australia and New Zealand.
According to Ponting, less sides equals a more enjoyable Cup. While acknowledging Ireland’s efforts, he said he was “still a believer that [the Cup] should be a place only for the best eight or ten teams”.
Ponting admitted that the growth of the sport was important, but that he also wanted to see one team dominate the Associate level “for a long period of time”.
“At least then you know that you’ve got a team that’s going to be competitive,” he added.
Hmmm… Ireland, anyone?
Thank goodness that the Sri Lankans have noticed. On March 14, a triangular series was announced between Ireland, Scotland and Sri Lanka, to be played from July 11-13 at the Grange Club, Edinburgh after the Lankans’ tour of England.
Irish coach Phil Simmons called it “a great boost” for the team, adding that Sri Lanka were “just the sort of opponent” the side required.
“Ireland need to play more one-day internationals between World Cups to give us the experience we need,” Simmons told CricInfo.
“A game against Sri Lanka…is just the sort of fixture we are crying out for.”
The supporters think so, too. One posted on the website that “Ireland should be the next Test-playing side – from the continuous all-round performances they displayed against the full-member nations since 2007, it is quite evident they are ready for it.”
It’s becoming like one of those naggingly annoying things that fans know but management refuse to pay attention to. Like Jon Stevens always being the best man to replace Michael Hutchence in INXS, not some brash Canadian bloke selected from a Pop Idol-style pay-television competition.
What a pity that once again Australia seem too preoccupied with themselves to hear that message – and those Irish cries. Have they not done enough to satisfy the ICC and Cricket Australia officials – as well as the Aussie national captain?
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