Congratulations to the Cricket Ireland squad and management for a marvellous tournament in South Africa, which culminated on Sunday with a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Canada. A match winning five-wicket haul from big Trent Johnston and a century from skipper William Porterfield, were icing on the cake performances amongst many over the past few weeks.
Ireland can look back on a job well done, and while some realism was brought to the table with defeats against Afghanistanand Kenya, they were blips on the road rather than areas of serious concern. The main objective to qualify for 2011 was achieved earlier than expected, and the second objective to win the tournament outright was achieved in an emphatic and ruthless manner, that showed a vast gap between the winners and the second-placed team Canada.
Where next CricketIreland?
Unfortunately after all the euphoria in South Africa it will be back to the hard grind of playing against full time county professionals in the Friend’s Provident Trophy, with a weakened team. The loss of our best players to the counties is a fact of life, and part of the double-edged sword. The better we play as an associate nation, the more exposed our best players become to a bevy of county scouts and lucrative full time contracts. It is part of the anomaly of playing both as a country and as a club. It’s a bit like football where players go back to their clubs after international duty. However, because of Ireland’s limited exposure to top-class fixtures, we also have to compete as a club and in this respect suffer the ignominy of seeing our best players in the opposition! The ultimate insult of course, is seeing them playing for another country against us, and following the path of Ed Joyce, we now see a similar situation with Eoin Morgan.
Eoin was certainly in the news over the past week having played such an important role in helping Ireland to qualify, but why did he opt to return early for pre-season practice with Middlesex? This was surely poor judgement on his part, and while nobody could seriously challenge his right to seek a lucrative England place in the future, it would have been a big fillip to the Irelandcause had he stayed for the final two games. Whether he was dropped or strategically left out of the team for the Kenya game, is a moot point, as Eoin himself had already taken the major decision, and many people will feel he blotted his copybook on this one.
The Ireland team for the Friend’s Provident series will show significant changes, but what a golden opportunity for the fringe players to step up to the plate and for some of the current team to consolidate their places. Andrew White was certainly one player who resurrected hisIreland career in South Africa, Trent Johnston showed there’s plenty of life left in the old dog, and Kyle McCallan showed a lot of courage in fighting back from serious injury after being out of the team for most of the tournament. Hopefully Andre Botha will win his fitness battle in the weeks ahead as these four senior players will form the core of the team in the absence of the county-bound players.
Ireland’s success can be measured against the huge disappointment suffered by our old adversaries Scotland. Prior to the tournament the first match between our two countries was seen as crucial, and a possible final three weeks later. However, after we beat them in the opening encounter their tournament went south, and it will take a lot of effort and focus for them to regroup and win back some credibility with their fans. They say form is temporary and class is permanent, so we sincerely wish them every success in getting their show back on the road. It helps to show there’s a thin line between success and failure.
Finally a word of thanks and congratulations to Cricket Europe for their excellent coverage of the tournament. It was quite simply superb.
In the meantime let’s “Stand up for the Champions” and salute our heroes.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
