Cricket:Cricket Ireland today declined the ECB's invitation to compete in a domestic one-day competition next year because the extra games would add pressure to an already congested fixture calendar.
“Our international fixture calendar has become very comprehensive, and, assuming we get what we think we will get fixture-wise and we continue to qualify for events and their latter stages like the last couple of years, we may have between 40-50 international fixtures in 2010,” explained Phil Simmons, Ireland coach.
“Leading up to the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent, I want to focus on primarily the 15 or 16 players who will represent us there, and I feel that the 12 additional games would be a step too far for the guys.”
“The Friends Provident Trophy used to serve us well timing-wise in terms of preparing the players for the international summer. However, given our success and expansion, we are now playing more and more cricket out of season,” added Simmons.
“It’s approaching an all year round game for Irish cricket, therefore the timing doesn’t work as well as in past years. Next year we’ll have Intercontinental Cup games, the ICC World Twenty 20 qualifiers, and hopefully the finals themselves before our traditional season begins.”
Cricket Ireland Chief Executive Warren Deutrom added: “This was not an easy decision for us, and it was only reached after careful consultation with our key stakeholders, including the national coaches, the Board, the Cricket Committee, ICC and our key commercial partners.
“Notwithstanding any possible changes to its format down the line, international cricket is our bread and butter and the means by which we are measured on the global stage. Therefore, we felt that we needed to focus our limited financial resources on preparing for our international programme.
David Collier, Chief Executive of the ECB, said: “We are pleased that we have supported Ireland in becoming a High Performance Country within the ICC Associate Group. Given the heavy expansion of cricket at International level for this group we can understand why Ireland have focused their resources on international events.
“Ireland’s place in our domestic one-day competition will be taken by The Netherlands who will join Scotland and the England and Wales Recreational Game team from the start of the 2010 season.”