Ireland’s bid to reach their 7th successive cricket World Cup Finals begins on Friday in Abu Dhabi when they meet Namibia. The 16 top Associate teams will vie for the 6 places on offer at the T20 World Cup Finals in Bangladesh next March. Ireland won the last series of qualifiers in 2012 and are number one seeds for this tournament.
It is inconceivable that Ireland will fail to qualify and it would be a major disappointment if they failed to win the qualifiers. Overall victory would see Ireland face Zimbabwe in the first round of the finals in Bangladesh with a realistic chance of reaching the second round when the top eight Test nations join the fray. Ireland will be determined to avoid facing host nation Bangladesh in the first round as they are formidable opponents on their home turf.
Ireland has been the outstanding Associate country for the past eight years and consequently has been knocking on the door of full member status for the past three years. This ambition provides the main subtext to this tournament. Ireland is akin to a Leaving Cert student obtaining maximum points but fails to be offered a place in University. Each year the exams are repeated, the maximum points always achieved and still there is no place on offer. It is as if the authorities are waiting for the day that the student fails to get the maximum and can tell them that it is too late, their time has gone. The recent rise of Afghanistan puts more pressure on Ireland as every defeat to a fellow Associate provides ammunition to those who want to ensure that the star chamber of the 10 full member nations is not breached. The political machinations at the top table of cricket would be admired in The White House, Downing Street or the Kremlin. It is all about power and money.
Ireland's Kevin O'Brien celebrates taking the wicket of Bangladesh's Mahmudullah Riyad at an ICC World Twenty 20 Warm Up Match on 17/9/2012 ©INPHO/Barry Chambers
The money is in India and hence they have the power which is exercised by their governing body the BCCI. They decide who and when they will play, they refuse to use the DRS system and are able to side line the CEO of another nation because they disagree with his views. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are the most recent additions to full member status and it is no surprise that they invariably support India when there is a decision or non- decision to be made at the ICC. When Bangladesh were admitted to full membership in 2000 they had a much inferior cricketing record than Ireland has now but they were an additional vote in the Asian bloc of Test nations. While it is true that there is a large support base for cricket in Bangladesh, it is equally true that they get a disproportionate share of hosting major tournaments if cricketing ability was the determinate. It could be argued that the format of the World Cup finals tournament next March is geared to giving the host country as many matches as possible to justify the massive expenditure on Stadia and other infrastructure. With 16 teams qualifying, the logical format would to be to have four groups of four. However this would likely mean that Bangladesh would only play 3 games. Instead there is a contrived formula that sees Bangladesh get three first round games against Associates with the probability of a further four games against Test nations.
Zimbabwe's Christopher Mpofu hits the stumps to send Ireland captain Trent Johnston to the stand at the 2007 World Cup ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Zimbabwe has been mired in allegations of corruption and riven by internal disputes for years. They have lost many key players because of the political involvement in their cricket structure. They were allowed to withdraw from Test cricket for most of the last decade but still were able to retain their full member status. Last September Ireland hosted England in Malahide in front of 10,000 spectators, a live audience that is beyond the wildest dreams of Zimbabwe cricket. Yet Ireland still remain on the outside and can only hope to gain entry by continually winning all Associate Nations Tournaments and competing with and beating the full members.
The ICC is supportive of Ireland in terms of financial assistance and advice but to date has been unable to deliver the steady stream of matches against the full members that is so vital to ensure the development and progress of Irish cricket. Indeed if it were not for the outstanding efforts of Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom, a man who fully understands the political and diplomatic requirements to achieve progress at the highest level, Ireland would have virtually no hope of reaching its ultimate goal. However this goal is also predicated on continued success on the field and this tournament together with the 50 over World Cup in Australasia in 2015 are vital to convincing the ICC that Ireland cannot be kept outside the door any longer.
T20 is the least predictable format of cricket as a couple of stellar performances on any given day can be sufficient to win a match. In the previous qualifying tournament in 2012, when there were only 2 final places on offer, Ireland lost their opening match against Namibia and had to win their next 9 matches to qualify. They achieved that and indeed went on to beat Afghanistan in the final but in their third game came within 2 balls of defeat to Italy. Only for Gary Wilson, Ireland would have been out of the tournament inside the first week.
Ireland has only played one T20 International in fourteen months and that was last March in Sharjah. Even for a team like Ireland, full of seasoned campaigners, getting into the rhythm of this format requires adjustment and the series of warm up matches this week are crucial to ensuring that come Friday all the skills are honed. The first major warm up match today saw Ireland beat Netherlands by 6 wickets with 2 balls to spare with William Porterfield leading from the front with 75 not out and Alex Cusack taking 2 for 16 of his 4 overs.
Ireland has its full complement of players available, over half of whom have experience at English county level, which is a greater number that the aggregate of Irish players in England in the entire 20th century. The top six in the batting order are key in 20 over cricket and Ireland have the luxury of two explosive hitters in Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien who have the ability to take the match away from any opposition in the space of a few overs. Stirling was immense in 2012 smashing 357 runs at a strike rate of 157 and Ireland will hope that he can reprise that performance over the next two weeks. Should either or both of Stirling or O’Brien fail in any game it is incumbent on the rest of the top order to step up and deliver. There is no doubt that the likes of William Porterfield, Ed Joyce (assuming the birth of his second child allows him to make it here on time) , Niall O’Brien and Gary Wilson are well capable of this and while they might not be as spectacular they have the fluency and determination to ensure that Ireland do not come up short. If needs be John Mooney, Trent Johnston and Max Sorensen can provide the fireworks at the tail end of an innings.
Getting sufficient runs should not be a problem but containing the opposition when Ireland have the ball in their hand might be an issue particularly on slow wickets. The absence of Boyd Rankin, now in England colours in Australia, is a concern. Rankin was the stand out performer in 2012 when he took 15 wickets and had the best economy rate of the tournament at 4.26. He terrorised many of the opposition batsmen with his pace and bounce.
Ireland's Alex Cusack ©INPHO/Kieran Murray
This year in ODI cricket Ireland have got themselves into winning positions against Pakistan and England with dynamic opening spells from Trent Johnston and Tim Murtagh but were unable to close out the game as the support bowling fell short of what was required. Given that Johnston and Murtagh each have a maximum of four overs it is essential that the others maintain the pressure. The return from injury of Alex Cusack is timely as he invariably gets wickets and with his pinpoint accuracy ties batsmen down and forces them to take risks at the other end. Max Sorensen has come on in leaps and bounds this year and his ability to take wickets at key moments may well prove decisive.
Given the slowness of the wickets spin bowling will also be a key factor and George Dockrell will be intent on rediscovering the control that deserted him on a number of occasions this year although against Associate teams he has an outstanding record. Paul Stirling will be his main support with spin but he rarely bowls for Middlesex and when he displays a lack of confidence with the ball he can be very expensive. It may well be that young Andrew McBrine will have a role to play during the tournament as his controlled off spin could be more valuable than one of the many medium pace bowlers Ireland carry in their ranks. It is good to see that Phil Simmons has brought three young players into the setup. In addition to McBrine there are also places for James Shannon and Stuart Thompson. Hopefully they will all see some game time over the next two weeks. There was surprise in some circles at Shannon’s selection given his lack of form for his club this season. However in the T20 inter-pros no Ireland qualified player got more runs than Shannon without been selected for this trip. Stuart Thompson made an impressive debut for Ireland against Scotland in Belfast in September where he bowled with pace and penetration and didn’t look out of place in this team.
Ireland to qualify comfortably but their focus will be entirely on winning the tournament to ease the pressure in Bangladesh next March and keep the dream alive.
IRELANDS SCHEDULE IS: (START TIMES ARE IRISH TIMES)
All in Abu Dhabi
Friday v Namibia (Stadium, 6am)
Saturday v Canada (Stadium, 10 am)
Sunday 17th v UAE (Oval 2, 10am)
Wednesday 20th v USA (Stadium, 6am)
Thursday 21st v Italy (Oval 1, 6am)
Friday 22nd v Uganda (Stadium, 10am)
Sunday 24th v Hong Kong (Stadium, 10am)
©INPHO/Presseye/Rowland White
