Do we have a Cricket Academy?

gbh

Just wondering do we have a Cricket Academy...I'm sure Australia has one, and I think England has one which I think is based in Australia for up and coming players. Maybe we need to develop something similar, get in the best coaches on contracts. Shane Warne would be an ideal choice to train some of the younger bowlers as he is over in England for the next two years.

The Irish team have done great at the WC and long may it continue. But if we want to stay longterm at the top tier of world cricket then I think an academy is a must where all young players can spend time learning from the best including from our own international players.

Chucky the tree

Unless we get alot of funding outside funding i doubt we could afford it. Alot of our players are still amatuer. We need to improve first thing is too get them all professional then when their standard improves we could get more matches and improve in competitions then it could be a possibilty.

Even then, i dont think we have a football academy which with the popularity of it would happen alot quicker.

TrueDub

gbh wrote:

Just wondering do we have a Cricket Academy...I'm sure Australia has one, and I think England has one which I think is based in Australia for up and coming players. Maybe we need to develop something similar, get in the best coaches on contracts. Shane Warne would be an ideal choice to train some of the younger bowlers as he is over in England for the next two years.

The Irish team have done great at the WC and long may it continue. But if we want to stay longterm at the top tier of world cricket then I think an academy is a must where all young players can spend time learning from the best including from our own international players.

Not as such, but there is a strong coaching network from Under-11 onwards, with great work being done by provincial coaches across the country. Each team has a squad selected and they train winter & summer, using the best facilities and coaches available.

The outgoing national coach, Adi Birrell, has been instrumental in ensuring this system is working to the best of it's ability, and it wasn't unusual to see him dropping by an under-15 match to check peoples' progress. Because of the all-encompassing nature of the approach, we're now European champions at all grades from Under-13 upwards.

mikeruurds

TrueDub wrote:

Not as such, but there is a strong coaching network from Under-11 onwards, with great work being done by provincial coaches across the country. Each team has a squad selected and they train winter & summer, using the best facilities and coaches available.

The outgoing national coach, Adi Birrell, has been instrumental in ensuring this system is working to the best of it's ability, and it wasn't unusual to see him dropping by an under-15 match to check peoples' progress. Because of the all-encompassing nature of the approach, we're now European champions at all grades from Under-13 upwards.

Adi has really been brilliant for Irish cricket. I hope that big Phil continues the good work.

Marshy

mikeruurds wrote:

Adi has really been brilliant for Irish cricket. I hope that big Phil continues the good work.

Yeah amazing what he has done, such a turnaround. I hope Simmons can follow suit.

dereko1969

one of the things that i think shows the true measure of adi birrell is that he included phil simmons in the coaching staff for this world cup, in the egotistical world of sport it's very rare to include your successor in such scenarios. and phil wasn't just watching he was out in the middle before the games going through the fielding drills with the players, i think especially with the quick turnaround between the wc and the friends provident games it will really help the players that they've gotten to know the new coach already. afaik north county have a superb set-up which is more or less the national academy and as has been said before the work done at underage level has been superb.

DMC

Sooo true, Derek. Simmons' local knowledge has proved invaluable.