Coolguy1210's thoughts

coolguy1210

It is great to hear accolades from all sections for the Irish Cricket Team from all quarters for their brilliant performance. It was a truly remarkable performance. However accolades alone wont help, it is the time for some action.

The ICC should immediately grant them Test Status and more aid and financial resources to build their infrastructure. The Irish Cricket Union should organize more tours and international matches against the top nations. A hectic schedule with lots of competitive matches should be organized immediately. Also they should sign up with many Sponsors while the team is in the limelight or they might loose out quickly.

Finally, wishing them all the best for their future and hoping to see a lot more of the Chicken Dance in the future.

coolguy1210

Reading some of the comments, I am convinced that Cricket will never grow beyond the Test playing Nations. The reason is lack of initiative by Associate Boards to organize more matches. Also the ICC has no vision. And someone commented 32 test playing nations being a chaos – I THINK THE ICC SHOULD TARGET 128 TEST PLAYING NATIONS IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS.

Also, someone said that the Associate Boards cannot organize more matches since players cannot take Time Off from work. In the first place the Boards should contract 20 players whose LIFE IS CRICKET AND NOTHING ELSE. I do not understand how players can concentrate on Cricket if they have full time jobs. Playing on Weekends wont improve since it is taken as a time pass and nothing serious. The only way to improve is moving to a professional set up right away and backing the players even if they lose their initial matches.

coolguy1210

We have so many grounds but they are underutilized due to lack of matches. Each Domestic Team and the National Team should play atleast 30 Tests, 50 ODI's and 30 20 twenty games. This is the only way to keep the players in good nick and also give chance to more players. The Selectors would also have more options to choose from. Also domestic Cricket should be advertised correctly and marketed properly and it will attract lots of people. I love watching domestic cricket but there is not enough awareness and publicity of the same.

coolguy1210

Please organize and Sponsor more Cricket and have a Seperate Cricket Channel. Also start a seperate Cricket LEAGUE to give more players a chance. The Prize money for Domestic and International Players should be increased drastically. Also all domestic matches should be broadcasted on TV since that is the only way to increase popularity of the game

coolguy1210

Reading some of the comments, I am convinced that Cricket will never grow beyond the Test playing Nations. The reason is lack of initiative by Associate Boards to organize more matches. Also the ICC has no vision. And someone commented 32 test playing nations being a chaos – I THINK THE ICC SHOULD TARGET 128 TEST PLAYING NATIONS IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS.

Also, someone said that the Associate Boards cannot organize more matches since players cannot take Time Off from work. In the first place the Boards should contract 20 players whose LIFE IS CRICKET AND NOTHING ELSE. I do not understand how players can concentrate on Cricket if they have full time jobs. Playing on Weekends wont improve since it is taken as a time pass and nothing serious. The only way to improve is moving to a professional set up right away and backing the players even if they lose their initial matches.

ICU - Please apply for Test Status immediately.

Endurance Man

Unless the irish cricket board aggrees to fund the players for at least a year so they can get some decent training in, its not gonna happen. As you said they dont have time for a full time job and cricket, and at the moment they are no where close to being able to compete at a test level, they need a lot more full time training.

KevIRL

merged threads..

Royale with Cheese

What are the funds of the ICU like? It's all very well saying they should have 20 full time paid cricketers, but I was under the impression the ICU weren't the richest of organisations. Becoming a professional team would stop players leaving to play in the County Championship and subsequently declaring for England. I don't know what the likelihood is but Ireland would be better off pushing for a place in the County Championship than they would be for a test place. They're centuries off that at the minute.

Marshy

I think the OP is being facetious with all these comments :eek:

TrueDub

Marshy wrote:

I think the OP is being facetious with all these comments :eek:

No sh*t!

Royale with Cheese wrote:

What are the funds of the ICU like? It's all very well saying they should have 20 full time paid cricketers, but I was under the impression the ICU weren't the richest of organisations. Becoming a professional team would stop players leaving to play in the County Championship and subsequently declaring for England.

The ICU are currently close to broke - to go semi-pro, which is the best we can hope and is vital, will cost them a lot, hence the new CEO has made funding this a priority.

Royale with Cheese wrote:

I don't know what the likelihood is but Ireland would be better off pushing for a place in the County Championship than they would be for a test place. They're centuries off that at the minute.

Getting a place in the County Championship (basically becoming another county) would be a disastrous approach for Ireland, IMO of course. We need to play the best-quality cricket we can, and the CC is not that. We can milk our ODI status for the next 3 years, and use that as a springboard towards a higher standard.

Royale with Cheese

TrueDub wrote:

Getting a place in the County Championship (basically becoming another county) would be a disastrous approach for Ireland, IMO of course. We need to play the best-quality cricket we can, and the CC is not that. We can milk our ODI status for the next 3 years, and use that as a springboard towards a higher standard.

I admire people's optimism but seriously Ireland are absolutely nowhere near gaining test level. The best they could hope for would be to go semi pro and play regularly in a competition like the County Championship. It would enable Ireland to keep the young players they have. The County Championship could be used as a springboard then, and could be used to promote the game further in the country.

TrueDub

Royale with Cheese wrote:

I admire people's optimism but seriously Ireland are absolutely nowhere near gaining test level. The best they could hope for would be to go semi pro and play regularly in a competition like the County Championship. It would enable Ireland to keep the young players they have. The County Championship could be used as a springboard then, and could be used to promote the game further in the country.

I understand what you're saying, and I agree 100% that test status is not a realistic objective in the forseeable future. But getting onto the county grind is no answer either.

I'd like to see a semi-pro (or pro-for-six-months-a-year) team that plays ODIs, the European Championships, The Intercontinental Cup, warmups for test teams touring England etc. This would give a serious amount of good quality cricket, allowing our players to develop against the best. We can and will be invited to be the third point in triangular series around the world in the northern winter (e.g. this winter in NZ) and there's no reason why we can't progress using this approach.

Lucas10101

At the end of the day, the Test isn't that realistic for people and some compromise has to be agreed upon...we can only guess what it is??