Game is on a sticky wicket

Cricket:Richard Gillis On Cricket

When Bono made a speech at a meeting of newspaper editors in London a few years ago, his first line was: "I'm sorry but I'm a bit nervous, I've never spoken in front of such a small audience."

It's a line that could have been used just as well by Rahul Dravid at the post-match press conference at Stormont on Saturday. The Indian captain and his team are routinely feted by huge crowds whenever they appear on a cricket field. Except Belfast that is.

The empty seats at Stormont's Civil Service ground on both days was a shame but not entirely surprising.

Had they turned up a full crowd would have seen the next generation of Ireland's cricketers begin to make an impression on the international scene. Merrion's Alex Cusack won the man of the match award for his three wicket haul, a good catch and 38 not out in a low scoring game. Roger "Roj n Roll" Whelan of Railway Union charged in to good effect, culminating in his "tell the grandchildren" dismissal of Tendulkar. And Kenny Carroll threatened to put Ireland into a position to win the game with the bat against South Africa before cruelly slipping on to his own stumps.

It can only be healthy that these young players are now pushing the established names hard for their place.

Beyond these individual performances, the team dressingroom is in need of their fresh-faced enthusiasm.

Money remains an issue for the players and the resentment they feel toward the ICU is a limiting factor on the progress of the team since the World Cup. Trent Johnston summed up the player's view: "When we were playing cricket 24/7, we were a different side," he said.

The issue moved on, with Jeremy Bray, who declined to be selected for these games, calling the ICU "a joke" in a Sunday newspaper for their efforts at putting together professional contracts.

ICU chief executive Warren Deutrom told The Irish Times he was "disappointed" with Bray's comments. "I rang and spoke to him about why he wasn't playing here and he said it was down to childcare. I asked if there was anything I could do and he said no."

The spat was the last thing Ireland needed. And there is a real danger that the much discussed cricket bubble is dissipating amid recriminations and self interest on both sides of the player-administrator divide.

These games against India and South Africa were the first time since the World Cup that the cricket world was given the chance to reconnect with Ireland.

Regardless of the crowd the games were very lucrative for the ICU, bringing in around $200,000 in TV revenue per match over the five-game series. Given this guaranteed income it was short-sighted to put the price of tickets at over €50. The majority of the few hundred that were at the ground on Saturday were Indians, many of them up from Dublin. One lady, who was there with her husband and two children, said the day had set them back at least €350 in tickets, trains and other associated costs.

Beyond money the other issue was that the games' natural constituency, the 10,000 or so people who play cricket in Ireland were elsewhere, doing just that. In particular, the Northern Cricket Union's refusal to shift this weekend's club schedule meant the locals were never going to show up regardless of the price.

It was late notice and options for a new date for the games would have required an imaginative response. But this was lacking. On Saturday, July 14th, the West Indies play in Clontarf, the next big game on the calendar. The Leinster Union has cancelled the club games on that day. The size of the crowd will test the theory that the people who play will also come and watch in large numbers.