Zimbabwe to tour Ireland next UK summer?

[zimfan1]

A leap into the dark

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Jon Coates (Irish Daily Mail)
29 September 2009

THE man who drove Ireland's decision to break free from English domestic cricket admitted last night the move was both 'a leap into the dark' and a 'calculated risk'.

For the first time since 1978, next summer's fixture list will not ask the national team to undertake any competitive one-day cricket against professional counties.

Ireland can hardly claim to have outgrown this environment — they won just three of 27 completed games in four seasons of the upscaled Friends Provident Trophy — but the game's governors believe it is time to press the country's claims for true autonomy.

The catalyst for Cricket Ireland's rethink was the radical decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board to bin the 50-over format - still the recognised format for one-day internationals - and revert to 40 overs.
Ireland were invited to join the expanded, 21-team 'Pro40' along with Scotland and an England and Wales Recreational Game team, made up of minor counties and club cricketers.

But William Porterfield's team will now be replaced by the Netherlands, and the roots of the Irish breakaway are financial as well as logistical.

While coach Phil Simmons said his men would play between 40 and 50 internationals next year - they fulfilled 38 fixtures in 2008 and 40 in 2009, including nine each year against counties - chief executive Warren Deutrom revealed that the cost of playing 12 games in the 2010 Pro40 would have scaled E120,000.

'It feels like there is an element of a leap into the dark about this, but we feel that the time is right for us to make this move,' Deutrom told Sportsmail.

'The team's form of the last few years shows that we have to budget for reaching the latter stages of events such as the World Twenty20, as well as the finals of associate nation events.

'It is a calculated risk. But although it's fair to say the ECB's change of format was a catalyst, we had been discussing this even prior to the 2009 season.'

Apart from one-day internationals with elite nations such as England and Australia (who come to Dublin next June), the early-summer tussles with star-studded counties were the key dates in the calendar for most Ireland supporters.

For all that, crowd sizes dwindled year on year and Deutrom revealed that a typical game in the Friends Provident Trophy this year would cost CI between E8,000 and E10,000 — 'and if we made E1,500 back it was a good result'.

The upshot is that Hampshire, Yorkshire and Surrey will be replaced by teams such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, India A and South Africa A, with the ICC promising the Irish more international exposure as a reward for three years of coherent progress.

Given that the likes of Kenya have consistently attracted even fewer spectators than visiting counties, there are bound to be players and fans alike who bemoan this decision, on which Deutrom's board voted unanimously.

The CEO confessed he had not canvassed the squad, but that Simmons 'had the ear of the players'.

Porterfield, in fact, recommended Ireland accept their Pro40 invitation only last week, only to then contact Deutrom to clarify his stance.

'Perhaps it's time we started to act like the 10th- or 11th-ranked nation in the world,' said Deutrom, 'as opposed to being regarded as a component of the English domestic system'.

The ECB stressed that England's biennial visit to Ireland for an ODI would not be jeopardised by their withdrawal from county combat.

http://www.cricketeurope4.net/DATABASE/ ... 6775.shtml

[zimfan1]

The upshot is that Hampshire, Yorkshire and Surrey will be replaced by teams such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, India A and South Africa A, with the ICC promising the Irish more international exposure as a reward for three years of coherent progress.

Not sure if thats just the ICC trophy match or a seperate tour for the ODI's but good to see that Ireland are happy to let us tour

And good news for Maehera!!!! hoping to see him push for his press accreditation

[maehara]

/puts on Ireland hat
About time Ireland withdrew from the English domestics. Two main reasons for this:
- no-one here cares about them. I've been to Friends Provident matches at Stormont with literally 20 spectators. Despite what the article claims, 1-day fixtures with Kenya et al will do better than that (although attendances for Intercontinental Cup games are woeful, even with free admission).
- with most of Ireland's main players unavailable to the side thanks to county duty, we only play a 2nd-string side in the competition anyway - and when we then lose, inevitably, it's seen as a blemish on the full national side: "Look, they can't even beat the counties!"

So yes, more international matches for Ireland, please, and to hell with the English county matches. And if some of those internationals include Zimbabwe, then it's win-win for me...

[Boundary]

Look, if Ireland finds attendances against counties poor, perhaps playing Zim is the way to go. Many UK-based Zimbos would gladly take the chance to watch their national side. I know I'd easily go there (from London)

[muyendesi]

I would appreciate the rare opportunity to watch my beloved zimbabwe also .All the way from Oxford

[zimfan1]

im sensing a Zimbabwe cricket forums meet in Ireland

[Detective RDS]

Ireland has got some nice cricket stadiums. I guess, I watched which is located at Belfast in 2008 probably when South Africa and India played here. Can't remember correctly, either in that series or afterwards in any Irish series had rain washouts.

Anyhows, it would be great if Zimbabwe does go to Ireland to play some matches. Foreign tour is always important regarding the different conditions and pitch variations.

[maehara]

We have three international grounds: Stormont in Belfast (biggest of the grounds, where the India v South Africa and Ireland v England matches were played), Clontarf in Dublin (smaller capacity, much nicer atmosphere apparently), and Eglinton near Londonderry (don't know what it's like). Most matches would be at either Stormont or Clontarf.

Rain is always going to be an issue here, and Cricket Ireland got a bit of a slating during the World Twenty20 qualifiers last year when a lot of matches were "rained off" only because the drainage at Stormont wasn't up to the job. That seems to have been addressed now, as the outfield was dried out pretty quickly when we had rain during the Ireland v England match in August.

Weather's usually best near the end of the season (August / September) - June / July has been very wet for the past few years. Best solution would be for Zim to use Ireland as a 'pre-season' tour in August next year, bring both the 'A' and national sides for a series with the same format as the Kenya tour, possibly bring in Scotland & Netherlands to make it a quad-series (as they did when West Indies toured last year).

All depends on the British & Irish governments granting visas, mind you...