Ireland - To Whatever End

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Ireland are currently playing UAE in a Intercontinental Cup 4 day match and doing exceedingly well once again.

The skipper Porterfield made 82, young Stirling 61, Joyce 155, Niall O'Brien 126 and Wilson is not out on 83.

The Irish are currently 531 for 5.
 
To be fair, the pitch seems to be even better than the one in Wellington at the moment; George Dockrell was saying on Twitter that it was really hard to get turn. Despite that, he and John Mooney seemed to be bowling really well in tandem to take 5 for 38 after the Emirates were 210/1 at one stage. I still think Ireland batted for too long; I'm not sure what their reasoning was for delaying their declaration until after tea on day 2. With only a day to play, the only chance of a result is if the UAE collapse twice.
 
troll3y said:
To be fair, the pitch seems to be even better than the one in Wellington at the moment; George Dockrell was saying on Twitter that it was really hard to get turn. Despite that, he and John Mooney seemed to be bowling really well in tandem to take 5 for 38 after the Emirates were 210/1 at one stage. I still think Ireland batted for too long; I'm not sure what their reasoning was for delaying their declaration until after tea on day 2. With only a day to play, the only chance of a result is if the UAE collapse twice.
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Yeah I heard from fellow Irish fans saying it was a complete road. Pitches are too good these days lol.
 
Negative tactics to play for the draw in the four-day game, do you reckon? They must have been giving the bowlers increased rest ahead of the important WCL games, while simultaneously giving their batsmen some quality batting time on a quality batting track.
 
troll3y said:
Negative tactics to play for the draw in the four-day game, do you reckon? They must have been giving the bowlers increased rest ahead of the important WCL games, while simultaneously giving their batsmen some quality batting time on a quality batting track.
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I'm not sure but Ireland has a history of low and slow pitches.
 
Ireland are the 11th best team at the moment by far and I think it's probably time they begin playing four-day games against the test nation "A" sides. I would have liked to have seen Ireland come to Australia for the recent summer here and play four games against Australia "A", I think these games would do the Irish team the world of good and similar matches against other sides (India "A", England Lions etc) would be much more beneficial than repeated matches against Afghanistan, Scotland etc.
 
Ljp86 said:
Ireland are the 11th best team at the moment by far and I think it's probably time they begin playing four-day games against the test nation "A" sides. I would have liked to have seen Ireland come to Australia for the recent summer here and play four games against Australia "A", I think these games would do the Irish team the world of good and similar matches against other sides (India "A", England Lions etc) would be much more beneficial than repeated matches against Afghanistan, Scotland etc.
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Ireland have done a bit of that but nowhere near enough. They have about a three month break at the moment I think and this is because the lower ranked teams such as Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, West Indies are scared of playing them.
 
futureblackcap said:
Ireland have done a bit of that but nowhere near enough. They have about a three month break at the moment I think and this is because the lower ranked teams such as Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, West Indies are scared of playing them.
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Bangladesh are about to tour Zimbabwe and the IPL is about to start. After that, the Champions Trophy will also see Ireland out of action. That said, there should be (or 'had better be') at least a few Champs Trophy warm-up games involving Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands. The opportunity is too good to pass up. Either way, at least there will be a handful of Associate players who will get County experience in that time.

A three-month break, though, will bleed into the Irish summer. That's just not right! It's fair enough that a national team is off-duty for a three month period from time to time, but surely that would occur in the off-season.

Edit: I don't think the lower-ranked teams are scared of Ireland, but sadly, there's probably no financial incentive to host them (according to the respective Boards). People still have that mindset with Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and Ireland being minnows and not really worth a look. The only time Bangladesh toured Australia was done after the peak cricket season and held in smaller cities (with ICC-approved grounds) that never host Tests. That's perfectly fine on paper with someone like me, but the vast, vast majority of people would take one look at that paper and give the whole series a miss. That's just how it is.
 
I think Ireland are improving greatly, but the long break will hinder progress. The fact that they may not be able to get the games is not going to help them one bit. I do think we will see more great improvements from the Irish but its going to take time.
 
futureblackcap said:
What a brilliant game from Ireland, tieing with Pakistan under DuckWorth-Lewis! A great century from Stirling (103) and K O'Brien smashing 84 from 47 deliveries. It was high scoring game as with Pakistan batting first and posting 266 and Ireland reaching 275 under D/L.

The second ODI of the series will be very interesting.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/601612.html?CMP=chrome
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Thats good beating pakistan in any pitch or any conditions
 
The international team seems to be going from strength to strength, and they've now got a Test endorsement from Misbah after those two tight ODIs. (On a side note, I thought the Netherlands stood up quite well in their one-off against South Africa. My heart goes out to Eric Szwarczynski, getting run out in the 90s after backing up too far.) The Interpro series, Ireland's top-tier domestic structure, has got off to a solid start, though the scores in the three-day games look a little flimsy. These are all good things for Ireland, but cricket is a patient game and progress in its world moves slowly; I don't foresee Ireland getting Test status for another couple of years still, but they'll at least achieve their goal by getting it before the year 2020.
 
troll3y said:
The international team seems to be going from strength to strength, and they've now got a Test endorsement from Misbah after those two tight ODIs. (On a side note, I thought the Netherlands stood up quite well in their one-off against South Africa. My heart goes out to Eric Szwarczynski, getting run out in the 90s after backing up too far.) The Interpro series, Ireland's top-tier domestic structure, has got off to a solid start, though the scores in the three-day games look a little flimsy. These are all good things for Ireland, but cricket is a patient game and progress in its world moves slowly; I don't foresee Ireland getting Test status for another couple of years still, but they'll at least achieve their goal by getting it before the year 2020.
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As for the Netherlands...they lost Kervezee to England and he happened to top-score when the Dutch played his county. :(
 
It really does make it hard with these developing countries when they keep losing their players to countries like England.
 
yeah, it has got to a pretty ridiculous point where the ICC simply must step in. Apparently, Boyd Rankin was given an ultimatum by Warwickshire, and so he ended up choosing potential Test cricket via County ahead of further-in-the-future Tests with Ireland. I just don't get Kervezee's decision, though -- nothing against the guy, but his quest for an England Test cap is ambitious at best. He says he wants to commit full time to Worcestershire, which I can understand from a personal development standpoint, but where does that leave the KNCB?

With Paul Stirling and George Dockrell still on England's radar, there has to be some kind of incentive for the Associate players to stay with the country, or, better still, a disincentive for Counties to cheaply poach the easy targets. It would be tragic if Stirling and/or Dockrell jump ship when Ireland are themselves so close to playing Tests. Someone suggested introducing a transfer fee to the affected national board that either the County or ECB has to pay. TAPP funding is a start, but the ICC really needs to stop just throwing money at the problem and do some legwork on the ground and stand up for the Associates.
 
I was hoping Ireland would put a better showing against Australia A. Paul Sterling's innings lived up to his name, but the depleted batting lineup showed its fragility. You don't always see two declarations on the same day's play (three if you include Aus A's overnight first-innings declaration), but losing 92 overs to rain over the first two days will change the game. It would have been nice to see Ireland bat some more against (effectively) a Test bowling lineup.

I fear that the uninformed will take a passing glance at this scorecard and unfairly conclude that the Irish aren't ready for Test cricket. Regardless, if Ireland and the other leading Associates don't get to play Test teams outside of global events, games against national 'A' teams are the best consolation. This needs to become commonplace, especially for Ireland.
 
troll3y said:
I was hoping Ireland would put a better showing against Australia A. Paul Sterling's innings lived up to his name, but the depleted batting lineup showed its fragility. You don't always see two declarations on the same day's play (three if you include Aus A's overnight first-innings declaration), but losing 92 overs to rain over the first two days will change the game. It would have been nice to see Ireland bat some more against (effectively) a Test bowling lineup.

I fear that the uninformed will take a passing glance at this scorecard and unfairly conclude that the Irish aren't ready for Test cricket. Regardless, if Ireland and the other leading Associates don't get to play Test teams outside of global events, games against national 'A' teams are the best consolation. This needs to become commonplace, especially for Ireland.
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True but you have to remember that Ireland were without captain Porterfield, Joyce (Ireland's best batsmen), and Niall O'Brien which seems to be a regular thing as problems with availability of county players. I'd take the positives from it ie. the young Irish fringe players playing against an mainly Ashes bowling attack excluding Ahmed and maybe Henriques.

That is the problem though isn't it? The uniformed making judgments about the Associate nations and only seem to be lurking every time they don't perform to their peek.
 
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