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Ireland’s hasty decision to return to Test cricket proves ill-judged

After a disastrous qualifying campaign for the ODI World Cup, it’s difficult to see what benefit the returning to the longest format offered

Josh Little and Barry McCarthy look dejected after the T20 International defeat to South Africa last summer at Gloucestershire Cricket Stadium, Bristol, England. Photograph: Ben Whitley/Inpho
Josh Little and Barry McCarthy look dejected after the T20 International defeat to South Africa last summer at Gloucestershire Cricket Stadium, Bristol, England. Photograph: Ben Whitley/Inpho
Nathan Johns's picture
Nathan Johns
Wed Jun 28 2023 - 05:00

Ireland returned to Test cricket too early.

It sounds sacrilegious to say it. In some sense it is. The Irish cricket community had been begging for four years to return to the game’s more prestigious format.

But after a disastrous qualifying campaign for this year’s One Day International (ODI) World Cup, it’s hard to see what benefit returning to the longest format offered.

Reaching the tournament, to be held later this year in India, was always going to be a tall order. In a qualifying competition featuring Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe on their own turf and the West Indies, a special run of results would have been required.

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It was in the 50-over format that Ireland were supposed to excel. Ireland arguably shouldn’t even have had to travel to Zimbabwe. Such was their form over the past three years in the ODI Super League that they left a number of potential wins behind them against better teams that would have seen them qualify for the World Cup automatically. The fall from that form to losing the opening two group matches to Oman and an understrength Scotland was nothing short of disastrous.

This qualifying competition was the “pinnacle event”, Cricket Ireland using the now infamous term to dampen expectations ahead of the ill-fated Lord’s Test earlier this month.

Qualification for this World Cup was largely why Ireland temporarily abandoned Test cricket in the first place. The decision was made during the pandemic to divert limited resources to this World Cup cycle and the financial rewards of qualification, rather than bilateral Test matches devoid of competitive context.

That is, until four months out from these qualifiers. Cricket Ireland decided that playing Test matches away from home fell under their budgetary capabilities. Everyone was happy. Fans could return to the nostalgia of watching red ball cricket, while players could engage in the game’s most stringent test of skills over a five-day match.

Between January and travelling to the qualifiers, Ireland played nine matches in the format that would define both their season and World Cup cycle. In the same period, they have had 19 days of Test cricket scheduled. In advance of of these qualifiers, head coach Heinrich Malan admitted that the playing conditions in Zimbabwe’s winter were “totally different than what we had planned for”.

A week before flying south, Ireland were playing on a flat deck, in a different hemisphere at the start of the English summer at Lord’s.

Preparation cannot be the only reason for Ireland falling short. Scotland, one of the sides to unexpectedly beat Ireland and reach the second stage of the qualifiers, have only played four ODIs this calendar year. A dramatic loss of form from a number of crucial Irish players, not to mention ill-judged selection decisions, didn’t help.

The move to initially leave out Curtis Campher only for him to return and hit a maiden ODI century baffled many. Utilising Andy McBrine as a makeshift opener, 50-over debutant Ben White as the frontline wrist-spinner and flip-flopping over the identity of the third seamer showed a group still scrambling to figure out its best XI, even if there was genuine faith in those players’ ability.

Equally unhelpful was the mental block that appears to have built up during close matches, à la the recent Scotland defeat. Michael Caulfield, Ireland’s part-time sports psychologist who has also worked with Premier League club Brentford, has not travelled with the squad since last year’s T20 World Cup.

Regardless, opening the door to red ball cricket this early led Cricket Ireland to receive offers they felt they could not refuse. For a recent tour of Sri Lanka, the host board reneged on the initial plan of one Test match plus three ODIs, instead presenting a take-it-or-leave-it proposal of two Tests. At Lord’s, Ireland felt compelled to accept England’s offer of a symbolic day out and the sponsorship benefits it brought instead of travelling early to Zimbabwe.

Continuing to instead play ODIs, waiting until next winter to return to Tests, would at least have ensured no one could accuse Ireland of being inadequately prepared for these qualifiers.

Ireland should reach the 2027 ODI World Cup once the competition expands from its current 10-team format to 14. That will make it 12 years since Ireland last took part in the game’s showpiece event that put them on the cricketing map.

What state Ireland will be in then is another question. Failing to qualify sees the prospect of a $1 million participation bonus go up in smoke, not to mention the sponsorship opportunities of a month-long tournament. These are not insignificant sums for a board that needs to start repaying a loan of $5 million next year.

Ireland are not a poor side. They are another fast bowler, a high-quality spinner and a top order batter away from being an excellent ODI outfit. Irish cricket spent 3½ years sacrificing so much only to end the famine just short of the event for which they started it. Despite the sacrifices, they find themselves in a worse position than Scotland and Oman.

The players let themselves down on the pitch when it mattered most, but the biggest question marks remain off it.