…with two exciting tournaments being hosted. It will also test the Cricket Ireland administration to see whether they have mobilized their PR sufficiently to attract reasonable crowds in theBelfastandDublinareas where all the games will be played. And it will test the loyalty of true Ireland cricket fans to see if they actually will come out and support their team!
The ICC European Championship is a true measure of Ireland’s prowess, as every participating country appears to be on an even keel with regard to player availability. The ICC Twenty20 World Cup qualifier is another story, but in cricket terms this tournament is a step into the unknown and virtually anything could happen. Hopefully for Ireland’s coffers it will have a happy ending.
The Ireland players need support in both tournaments and if our game is to move forward and advance it has to do it off the field as well as on it. That means genuine fans have to step out from their armchairs and get behind the wheel. Both tournaments have been well publicized and entrance charges are modest. Entertainment has been promised in Belfast and the geographic spread of games in the Dublin area offers a wide choice for those who don’t like to travel too far. And well done The Hills who will be staging their first international match, a deserved honour for a small country club that has grown in leaps and bounds in the last 25 years.
Ireland will be expected to retain their Division One European title given the fact that their squad is at full strength with all the county players available, albeit with a few conditions. They should certainly steamroll minnows Italy and newcomersNorway, and it would be quite a shock if either Denmark or Holland toppled our boys on home soil. That means the championship outcome could be decided in the last match against the Scots at Clontarf, and if ever there was a score to settle then a full strength Ireland team will surely want to reverse that heavy defeat in Aberdeen a few weeks ago?
Victory in the Europeans would be a great tonic for the Twenty20 squad the following week in Belfast, and on the face of it, Ireland should have enough firepower to win one of the two places that are on offer for the lucrative Twenty20 World Cup shootout in England next year, although third place might be enough given Zimbabwe’s current exile from world cricket.
To play in another World Cup should be incentive enough for the Irish players and our supporters, although the leading Associate countries will be much more formidable opposition than the European elite. There’s so much uncertainty about Twenty20 cricket that virtually anything could happen and none of these six countries can lay claim to have much experience in this improvised form of quick cricket. However, from what we have seen of the Indian Premier League and the Stanford Twenty20 competitions the crowds play a huge part in the proceedings, and strong support for Ireland will be a great help to the team.
Now’s the time for cricketers in both the NCU and North-West areas to get behind the wheel and support their team. Belfast has done well to secure hosting this exciting tournament and Cricket Ireland needs everyone’s support to help take our game to another level.
It’s an exciting two weeks of cricket so let’s ensure our team gets full support.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
