T20 World Cup: Ireland earning the pay-off for finally buying into shortest format of game

Eight games, three wins, four defeats, one washout. A run of results that, if offered to them before the T20 World Cup started, Ireland would have gladly accepted, even if a pair of heavy defeats to finish necessitates a trip to a qualifying tournament to reach the 2024 event in the Caribbean and USA.

This year’s global showpiece certainly takes its place among the collection of stellar Irish performances at World Cups, but where does it rank?

For a certain generation, the 2007 wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh in the Caribbean can never be beaten simply because they were first. For others, Kevin O’Brien’s 2011 heroics against England will always take precedence given just how behind the game Ireland were and, well, the badge on the opposition’s shirt.

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T20 cricket, as the format which has shifted the dynamics of the game to the greatest extent imaginable, left Ireland behind for so long. The latest generation of players, once denied stints in English county cricket, simply did not play enough high-quality games to keep up with the rapidly developing skillsets required by the sport’s shortest format.

No moment symbolised this more than last year’s tournament in the UAE when Ireland were knocked out by Namibia, a side playing in their first ever T20 World Cup.

T20 is undoubtedly the great leveller, the shortest format giving more skilled sides less time to assert their dominance and thus increasing the chances of an upset. Regardless, Ireland still had to watch someone else take what they felt was their place among the giants of the game.

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This time around, to beat the West Indies and England, the former the most successful T20 side of the last decade with two World Cup wins, the latter the greatest production line of T20 talent for domestic leagues across the world, signifies how Ireland have narrowed the gap that was allowed to grow.

Many credit Ireland’s newfound aggressive approach for that narrowing. Yet this isn’t a side that got out of bed 12 months ago and suddenly realised the value of boundaries and wickets in T20; Kevin O’Brien used to open the batting after all.

What’s changed is each individual player has more clarity around their role and what actually needs to be done to be so aggressive, both with bat and ball. The solution was to finally prioritise T20, to put together a schedule that offered enough games and gave players space to fail in order to develop.

The results were fruitful. Alongside known commodities Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie, Josh Little has emerged as a true superstar aged 23, while Lorcan Tucker has shown on the world stage his ability up the order.

Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy all had their days out at this World Cup, and while George Dockrell and Harry Tector may not have had the tournaments they wanted with the bat, they were the stars of the summer for an Irish side that is slowly developing more and more match-winners.

“Certainly clarity is the word,” explains Balbirnie. “If you look at our batting order last year there were a couple of guys floating a bit, not sure what role they needed to play to get into the team. We’ve changed that. Having a lot of games this year has helped, it’s given guys confidence in the clarity.

“We’re by no means the finished article but we’re a better team than we were this time last year and that’s all you can ask.”

Whatever about player improvement, this World Cup is arguably more significant off the pitch. T20 cricket is the shortest and most accessible format to casual viewers and new participants. Previous successes in 50-over World Cups certainly garnered attention, but it’s hard to say they grew the fan base substantially.

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Having a decent team in a format that only takes three hours should see a spike in interest. It’s up to Cricket Ireland to cash in and get numbers at T20 games at home – even if that requires solutions such as floodlights at club grounds allowing post-work punters to watch summer evening interpros. The imminent introduction of a long-awaited T20 domestic league should also help.

Though still unconfirmed, Ireland are back in action in January with a tour to Zimbabwe before a long-awaited return to Test cricket in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the spring, Ireland’s first red-ball games since 2019. A Test match date at Lord’s with England also awaits in June.

“I’ve always said Test cricket is so important to the fundamentals of the game,” said Balbirnie. “It’s been an amazing few weeks here but that’s just another tournament.”

Test cricket may well be the pinnacle both for the players and purist followers for whom T20 success will struggle to rank highly. Yet given futile past efforts to grow the game and earn support beyond whenever England are beaten, the importance of the last three weeks in Australia cannot be overstated.