In an exclusive interview with NewsTalk, Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom has said that he is satisfied that the intentions of ICC and particularly the “Big Three” of India, England and Australia is to ensure that there is meritocracy in cricket and that a clearly defined pathway to Test cricket will be created to achieve this.
While there were concerns from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe that their Test status could be at risk under the draft proposals, these have been addressed and the reality is that the Intercontinental Cup will be the mechanism to give the opportunity for an Associate country to gain Test status. He is confident that there is sufficient support to break the glass ceiling that has prevented Ireland from fulfilling its cricketing potential. He says that the Full Members have a “clear conscience” about the way they are going about assisting Associates in attaining Test status.
He acknowledges the helpful comments in the last few days from BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) secretary Sanjay Patel who is quoted as saying "The other part is Intercontinental Cup. There also (sic) it has been provided in such a competitive way that the winner of the Intercontinental Cup will be eligible to play with top 10 nations. They can elevate themselves by that", and from Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman and one of the three main proponents of the proposals, who was quoted in the Guardian newspaper "If Ireland do qualify for Test cricket, England will guarantee that we play them. We have already looked at that possibility when constructing our FTP (Future Tours Program)."
An initial analysis of the proposed funding would suggest that Ireland would not receive much more money than they are currently getting. However he is hopeful that the final agreement will lead to doubling the funds that Ireland receives. This would be essential to ensure that Ireland remains competitive both on and off the field. The plan to reduce the number of teams in the Cricket World Cup to ten teams and the reduction in the frequency of the T20 World Cup to once every four years rather than the existing alternative year format, could result in a loss of up to USD 300K per year and this needs to be taken into consideration in agreeing the funding arrangements.
Discussions about the format of the next Intercontinental Cup will take place over the next few months and Warren believes that it is vital that, given the consequences of winning the cup, the format must ensure that is competitive and it may be that six teams would better satisfy that requirement rather than eight and that home and away matches would be more appropriate to ensure that everyone is treated equally. He also is adamant that, unlike the current Intercontinental Cup format, players with English county sides must be released to play for Ireland.
As he says “we cannot keep apologizing to counties for taking players to play for their country when our ambition is to be a Test side.” He recognises that this may mean paying higher levels of compensation to the counties but the point may well come when it is more cost effective to bring at least some of the players home and give them the same remuneration that they receive from all sources now. He says that Ireland have no desire to be a 19th county and are building an infrastructure that will ready to embrace the demands of Test cricket. In addition to the full permanent development of Malahide it is also the intention to bring both Stormont and Bready to Test standard.
He believes that the inter-pro series is an essential component of the development of cricket in Ireland as it is the basis for bridging the gap between club and international cricket. Sponsorship has been an integral part of development and the carrot of sponsoring a potential Test side will be an attractive proposition to current and prospective partners. The eighteen match inter-pros are available for sponsorship this year and given their enhanced importance he regards them as very good value for money.
Overall the CEO is very happy that the prospects for Ireland are moving ahead at a rapid pace but he does not underestimate the many challenges ahead. However it is preferable to have those challenges than the alternative of stagnation.
It now appears that there will be a route to Test cricket for the top Associate team if statements issued in the wake of this week’s ICC meeting come to fruition. It has apparently been proposed that the winner of the next Intercontinental Cup would play the tenth ranked Test side on a home and away basis and if successful would become the eleventh Test team for a period of at least three years. Although there is no official ICC confirmation of this it is significant that there has been on the record comments from senior officials of both India and England in relation to the proposal.
Now those who are sceptical of promises emanating from the ICC, and with good reason there are many, will view this as yet another tactic to ensure that the proposals in their entirety are passed at the ICC meeting provisionally scheduled for 8th February. However it does now seem that the “Big Three”, probably as the result of the furore over the original draft proposals, do recognise that they have a responsibility to develop cricket beyond the Test playing countries and to reward success on the field and good governance off it. Ireland has unquestionably satisfied both criteria in recent years.
While the exact detail of how the qualification process will play out is unlikely to be known until after the 8th February there is now a real possibility that Ireland could be playing Test cricket by either 2017 or at worst 2019. Either way that is earlier that Cricket Ireland’s own timeline which has been working towards 2020 as the target date.
Of course for this to be achieved the performances and successes on the field in recent years will have to be continued and the next phase of competitive cricket begins today in Trinidad.
Ireland has been invited to compete in the eight team West Indies 50 over Regional competition with all games taking place in Trinidad and Tobago. Under the banner of the Nagico Super- 50, Ireland is grouped in the first phase with the holders Windward Islands, Jamaica and today’s opponents Guyana. The winners and runners up in each of the two groups will go through to the semi-finals. Trinidad is the home of Ireland coach Phil Simmons and he will be thinking of nothing other than winning yet another piece of silverware. However to entertain overall success he will have to ensure that Ireland don’t follow their pattern of slow starts to tournaments. While they are not competing against full International sides they certainly will not be underestimating the strength and quality of all their opponents.
First up today is Guyana who have in their squad no less than seven players with Test and ODI experience including the now legendary Shivnarine Chanderpaul who apart from over 11,000 Test runs is closing in on 9,000 ODI runs. He is supported by Ramnaresh Sarwan, who although he may have recently dropped off West Indies radar, has almost 6,000 runs in both Test and ODI’s. Their bowling attack is dominated by a trio of Test spinners, leggie Bishoo, off spinner Deonarine and the slow left arm of Permaul all of whom are likely to play and will no doubt be aware that the Ireland batsmen, particularly in the early stages of a competition, are more comfortable with pace on the ball than off it. The wickets in Trinidad tend to be more like those on the sub-continent and favour spin although reports suggest that the wickets have more bounce and pace than usual and Ireland will hope that these reports are accurate.
Ireland’s second game is on Monday against Jamaica who can also boast of seven Test players in their ranks, five of whom also have ODI experience. Although they will be without the explosive Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels for the first phase of the tournament through injury, they are still a formidable outfit as in addition to captain David Bernard and wicketkeeper/batsman Carlton Baugh they possess in Andre Russell one of the best all-rounders in the Caribbean.
The seven Ireland players in the current squad who first came across Russell in a tour of the West Indies in 2010 will have good reason to remember him as the then twenty one year old followed up his four first innings wickets with a blistering 108 off just 65 balls when Jamaica batted in the three day match. To prove it was no fluke he blasted out five Ireland batsmen in the subsequent one day match. Although Ireland had a better handle on him in the World Cup in India when he made his ODI debut, he delivered the crucial ball in Ireland’s run chase when with Ed Joyce and Gary Wilson on course to send Ireland to the quarter-final he ripped out Joyce’s leg stump with a searing yorker with the final ball of his spell.
Although Jamaica have a Test spinner in the exotically named Nikita Miller it is the pace attack that is their strength as in addition to Russell they can call upon Jerome Taylor who was instrumental in demolishing England for 51 in 2009 and Sheldon Cottrell a left arm speedster who made his Test debut against India in Tendulkar’s 199th Test match last November.
West Indies' Ravi Rampaul bowls as Ed Joyce of Ireland prepares to run at the 2012 Twenty 20 World Cup Group B ©INPHO/Ron Gaunt
The final match in the group next Friday sees Ireland pitted against the holders of the trophy the Windward Islands. While the holders have on paper a squad that looks weak compared to the other two sides in the group, last year’s triumph should ensure that Ireland will not take them lightly. Their only Test player in the squad is Devon Smith, who as Ireland have cause to remember, got his only ODI hundred in the aforementioned World Cup match in Chandigarh.
They also have two current ODI batsmen in the big hitting Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher. In last year’s successful pursuit of the title Smith and Fletcher were the tournament’s leading run scorers with 348 and 307 runs respectively. They are missing West Indies skipper Darren Sammy through injury but as he didn’t play last year they proved then that they can compete without him. The big question is if they can compete without Shane Shillingford.
The Test and ODI off spinner has probably been West Indies most potent weapon in the last three years having taken 65 wickets in just 14 Tests. In this tournament last year he was the driving force behind Windward Islands success as he was comfortably the leading wicket taker in the competition with 17 victims at an average of 10 and an economy rate below three runs per over. However he has been reported for a second time for an illegal bowling action and cannot bowl again this year. His loss will be immense and with the exception of up and coming West Indies A left arm fast bowler Delorn Johnson they have no obvious strike bowlers.
Ireland have a full strength squad in the Caribbean although Ed Joyce will not be joining up until the Jamaican leg of the tour in late February when Ireland play 2 T20 Internationals and an ODI against the West Indies. The ICC issue cannot be ignored on this trip as it is crucial that Ireland build on the momentum generated by last year’s superb triple winning performance. Winning matches against good teams should feed into the World T20 in March and then on into the home ODI’s in May against Sri Lanka, who ironically have just crushed Bangladesh in the first Test. This time next year Ireland will be on the cusp of another 50 over World Cup and the confidence of being able to continually compete against the top teams will be vital facing into the Intercontinental Cup and all that might entail.
If the avenue to Test cricket has opened up it will take pressure off to the extent that up to now the goal of Test cricket had no definitive context outside of hope. The coach and players will have the freedom of knowing that winning the next Intercontinental Cup is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Winning matches against Full Members will no longer be ephemeral triumphs quickly ignored by those who control the destiny of an ambitious and talented group of players. Now defeat, while it will be annoying to those involved, will no longer provide the excuse for the Full Members cabal to impose their own sordid cricketing apartheid.
There will of course be the contradictory pressure of each player wanting to prove that they deserve to be part of the journey towards Test status. However the recent history of Ireland under Phil Simmons suggests that the players will have the freedom to express themselves and not be judged on a few performances.
This will be the first tournament for a considerable time without the talisman Trent Johnson and while his boots will be hard fill it will not, nor should it be, impossible. Max Sorensen and Tim Murtagh are well capable of taking on the extra responsibility while Craig Young is the first to get the opportunity to see if he has what it takes to provide another cutting edge to the pace attack. He spent the winter in Australia playing grade cricket and being mentored by Craig McDermott and presumably the feedback has edged him ahead of Graeme McCarter and Peter Chase who also had the same stint down under. But they shouldn’t despair as there is a lot of cricket to be played this year and their chance will come.
Similarly Andy McBrine has the opportunity to show that he is the most viable back up to George Dockrell in the spin department and given the possibility of turning tracks should get some game time. The batting last year rarely let Ireland down and as all of the top order has previous experience in the Caribbean they should not be discomforted by alien conditions. Indeed Kevin O’Brien played for Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel last summer in the Caribbean Premier League and acquitted himself very well scoring over 150 runs and hitting the sixth highest number of sixes.
With the genuine prospect of new horizons William Porterfield and his men can write the first page of a defining chapter in the history of Ireland cricket.
All of Ireland’s games have a 6pm start (Irish Time) and are to be streamed live on www.windiescricket.com.
Image: Warren Deutrom ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
