Ireland

[foreignfield]

Well done Ireland. I only grabbed a few overs at the back end of Pakistan's innings.

Going forward the main obstacle for Irish cricket will be the finances and their close association with the English county game. Most of the players now have county contracts, poaching Tim Murtagh via the ancestry route looks a more than decent short-term compensation for loosing Boyd Rankin. All of this is a major asset for Irish cricket in terms of their competitiveness. But it might come back to haunt if they were to get Test status. With only the odd home ODI here and there most counties are willing to release players for a couple of days ... but would they do the same for a month long full fledged Test, ODI and T20 series in the middle of the season? I don't think so. Would the players be willing to ditch their county contracts? In some cases they probably would, but Ireland would have to generate enough money to pay them.

[Kriterion_BD]

Let's hope Ireland do get test status. It would certainly help get the balance of cricketing power away from the BCCI and back to where it belongs.

Certainly.

I think if the major countries like England and Australia support Ireland, they can collectively twist the BCCI's arm if the BCCI tries to pull that petty bullshit. Perhaps even negotiating with the BCCI and giving them some perks they can't turn down...such as an "Ashes" type 5 Test series against Australia every 2 or 3 years.

Does elevation to Test status require unanimous support? It should just be 7/10 majority, IMO, because a powerful board(s) can always hijack the process.

I also think additional Test sides like Ireland and/or Afghanistan will be beneficial for the long term development of countries like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and of cricket itself.

[eugene]

Well done Ireland. I only grabbed a few overs at the back end of Pakistan's innings.

Going forward the main obstacle for Irish cricket will be the finances and their close association with the English county game. Most of the players now have county contracts, poaching Tim Murtagh via the ancestry route looks a more than decent short-term compensation for loosing Boyd Rankin. All of this is a major asset for Irish cricket in terms of their competitiveness. But it might come back to haunt if they were to get Test status. With only the odd home ODI here and there most counties are willing to release players for a couple of days ... but would they do the same for a month long full fledged Test, ODI and T20 series in the middle of the season? I don't think so. Would the players be willing to ditch their county contracts? In some cases they probably would, but Ireland would have to generate enough money to pay them.

How do county player rules and restrictions fit within EU laws?

[herb]

Let's hope Ireland do get test status. It would certainly help get the balance of cricketing power away from the BCCI and back to where it belongs.

Certainly.

I think if the major countries like England and Australia support Ireland, they can collectively twist the BCCI's arm if the BCCI tries to pull that petty bullshit. Perhaps even negotiating with the BCCI and giving them some perks they can't turn down...such as an "Ashes" type 5 Test series against Australia every 2 or 3 years.

Does elevation to Test status require unanimous support? It should just be 7/10 majority, IMO, because a powerful board(s) can always hijack the process.

I also think additional Test sides like Ireland and/or Afghanistan will be beneficial for the long term development of countries like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and of cricket itself.

Am i the only one who is worried the England/Australia block will try to replace us with Ireland. Will certainly shift the power balance in their favour and they will have enough justification coz of our abysmal performances.

[wicor]

I see the official 'other' team of ZCF, Ireland just pulled of a tie against Pakistan in Dublin.

Other team of ZCF??? How many Zimbabweans exactly have played for Ireland??

[foreignfield]

Well done Ireland. I only grabbed a few overs at the back end of Pakistan's innings.

Going forward the main obstacle for Irish cricket will be the finances and their close association with the English county game. Most of the players now have county contracts, poaching Tim Murtagh via the ancestry route looks a more than decent short-term compensation for loosing Boyd Rankin. All of this is a major asset for Irish cricket in terms of their competitiveness. But it might come back to haunt if they were to get Test status. With only the odd home ODI here and there most counties are willing to release players for a couple of days ... but would they do the same for a month long full fledged Test, ODI and T20 series in the middle of the season? I don't think so. Would the players be willing to ditch their county contracts? In some cases they probably would, but Ireland would have to generate enough money to pay them.

How do county player rules and restrictions fit within EU laws?

There are no restrictions at all. You could play Tests for Ireland and County cricket, no problem -- and it wouldn't be a problem during the English winter. But while the ECB can tell the Counties to release whatever player for international duty because they finance the County game to a large extent, Cricket Ireland does not hold the same power. Basically they would have to offer full contracts to all their players on terms which are not too inferior to their respective County contracts -- and that will be much more expensive than ZC's playing budget. Or they would have to play their home series with often second string sides.

I have a feeling that Cricket Ireland, fully aware of the challenges, is not really striving for Test status right now, but some sort of 'full member status light' (= more money, guaranteed entry into WCs, more ODIs/T20s via the FTP). I recently read an article along those lines somewhere.

[wicor]

I see the official 'other' team of ZCF, Ireland just pulled of a tie against Pakistan in Dublin.

Other team of ZCF??? How many Zimbabweans exactly have played for Ireland??

Apologises I think I have misread the initial post!

Regarding restrictions. As far as I am aware, if granted test status, Irish players would then be regarded as overseas players and thus lose their county deals, so CI would need to offer large contracts to stop situations (ala Ervine/Ireland and Zimbabwe) where a player will retire from International cricket to keep his county deal!

[samedwards]

I have a feeling that Cricket Ireland, fully aware of the challenges, is not really striving for Test status right now, but some sort of 'full member status light' (= more money, guaranteed entry into WCs, more ODIs/T20s via the FTP). I recently read an article along those lines somewhere.

Au contraire, Ireland is gunning for Test status by 2020. They are steadily ticking the boxes of the vague conditions provided by the ICC.

They have got sponsors and have a contract with Sky Sports for terrestrial match rights.
They have started a 3-day domestic tournament, alongside a 50-over and T20 tournaments.
They have been producing good results against Full Members.

[eugene]

Counties have a limit on how many foreigners they can have right? Is that legal under EU law. Whenever limiting the number of foreigners in Premiership Football teams is discussed, it is always said that that would be illegal under EU law. Unless I am misunderstanding something.

[foreignfield]

Counties have a limit on how many foreigners they can have right? Is that legal under EU law. Whenever limiting the number of foreigners in Premiership Football teams is discussed, it is always said that that would be illegal under EU law. Unless I am misunderstanding something.

You are right, eugene, I think.

A limit on EU nationals would contravene EU law, so there's no problem for the Irish on that account. On an aside, a few Irish players happen to be subjects of the Queen as Ireland represents both the Republic and N.I. (and I would imagine Tim Murtagh still has a UK passport).

A limit only applies to overseas players. It is also the reason why EU passports are coveted by pros from Australia (di Venuto played on an Italian passport, I think), or even SA (because an EU passport is better than a Kolpak) like Pothas (Greek) or Tendo.

I think the ECB has tried to address the Kolpak problem by creating financial incentives for the Counties to field more English-qualified players, especially under a certain age. But that's a different story.