The state of Irish cricket

The Giant Killers, as they were labelled at the start of the tournament, Ireland exited the tournament in the most killjoys of ways possible: without having bowled a ball in their must-win game against the West Indies. On what was their biggest stage, they had two games that established a tournament for them. Such tournaments are perhaps their only chance to generate interest in a sport that is yet to pick up in terms of interest towards the game, but the one-and-a-half-game that they played does them no good.

Ireland did fare decently in the past two World Cups, causing some upsets by beating strong teams and thus gaining interest and respect of those back home and the ones eyeing them with keen interest. Two games are hardly a stage to prove credibility; that has been a disadvantage to the Irishmen. Ireland has now passed the stage of being termed minnows. They now are in quite a precarious situation: they are neither the amateur minnows, nor are they amongst the stronger sides.

Ireland, without a doubt, is one of the better Associate teams along with Afghanistan, but nobody barring Australia and England has approved to play them frequently. Without playing better teams, they are devoid of the opportunity to get better. They do not have enough exposure to top-level cricket to make progress. They are stuck in the same rut. Their only chance of playing better teams is in tournaments like these.

The main problem for Ireland has been their better players being siphoned off to England when they displayed potential, like Eoin Morgan. You can’t blame the players for wanting to play high-level cricket, which is being denied the opportunity in Ireland. Some players play for England, most lurk around the county circuit before throwing it away. The problem is a grave one and needs addressing. At this rate, the future of Irish cricket seems quite bleak.

In this tournament, they have had quite a dismal outing. The Irishmen seemed incapable of handling pace – often falling prey to pace when they tried to take the attack to the pacers. Sometimes, all a team needs is the inspiration emanating from their captain leading from the front. Porterfield had a murky tournament having faced only two balls, and both were the ones that dismissed him, first ball of the match. O’Brien couldn’t do much by himself. Johnston and Stirling were ordinary. Boyd Rankin was ill. Dockrell was their only bright spot. That sums up their outing in Sri Lanka.

Ireland only scored a meagre 129, but they would’ve tried to defend their score as much as possible, but they never got the opportunity to even try and were ousted from the tournament.

Ireland is not the sort of team to give up when adversity strikes, they only come out fighting. Despite being denied an opportunity to prove themselves this time around, they will make the most of the opportunities that come their way in the future. For a team with a bright future, I hope to see them someday taking on some of the big guns and giving them a run for their money. Till then, we’ll just have to wait and watch with bated breath and hope for the Irish Luck to favour them.