The 2015 Cricket World Cup will begin with favourites Australia, New Zealand and South Africa the most likely to win the crown.
While not much has been said about any team from the British Isles, the Irish ODI squad must be taken seriously.
Ireland qualified for their first World Cup in 2007 and have made enormous progress since. In 2011, they beat England, one of their most prized scalps across the international scene.
Unfortunately, we do not see these two nations face in the group stage this time around.
Jason Gillespie gave the nation adoring praise in December, stating that the ICC board could give cricket a boost by granting Ireland Test status.
England will be led by Eoin Morgan who is Irish and actually switched to play for England, presumably for more opportunities. Boyd Rankin is another notable to switch sides to play for England.
Clearly, Ireland are producing strong cricketers and there is no reason they cannot continue to do so. County cricket in England has been a good place for Irish cricketers to ply their trade and as a result they could be given Test status.
Ireland’s fixture allows them to quite possibly make it to the finals with South Africa the only favourite and India the only other notable opponent. If they were to beat either of those teams, what an upset it would be.
The ICC has made it possible for Ireland to gain Test status – along with other nations – through the Intercontinental cup, which from 2017 will allow the winner to place the bottom ranked Test nation.
Ireland has won this four out of six times.
Ireland could give greater credence and depending on the ICC’s actions, fast-track their Test status with good performances in the Cricket World Cup. Ireland had cited their desire to eventually reach Test status and by all accounts, could not do worse than Bangladesh.
The Irish nation will be backing their team to make a big performance in the 2015 World Cup and they could go very far in the tournament. Among the favourites, Ireland will be on my radar during World Cricket’s biggest tournament.
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