HIGH FIVES FOR ASSOCIATES

In the space of just forty days from the 19th February, Associate teams defeated five Full Member nations.

There have been quite a few one off wins in the last few years with Ireland the most regular inflictor of pain on the self- styled elite but such a sustained period of success in a concentrated period is unprecedented in the annals of Associate cricket.

In many ways the most astonishing part of this is that it wasn’t just the top two teams, Ireland and Afghanistan, who were fully responsible for the successes as both Netherlands and Hong Kong also showed that there is more needed to win cricket matches than largesse from Dubai. And it wasn’t just the usual suspects, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe who capitulated, as they were joined by West Indies and England, (I realise that some regard England as usual suspects), in the “elite” commentators hall of shame.

The successes could even been more spectacular as Ireland should have beaten West Indies a second time, Afghanistan could have added to their Bangladesh Asia Cup scalp with a win against Pakistan and the Dutch had South Africa on toast before they inexplicably dropped the marmalade. The strength in depth of the Associates was further enhanced by the top guns Ireland and Afghanistan losing to Netherlands and Nepal respectively, neither of whom are ranked in the top eight and don’t have ODI status.

The question now is how the ICC will react to recent events? Their original strategy for the development of Associate and Affiliate cricket was to go down the T20 route but they subsequently contradicted that by deciding that the flagship of T20, the World Cup, would only be held every four years following the 2016 edition rather that the two year cycle that has been in place since its inception.

All but one of the successes chronicled above occurred in T20 matches which effectively makes a mockery of that strategy although that will come as no surprise to ICC watchers. The incoming ICC President Mr. Srinivasan will no doubt have plenty to say on the issue notwithstanding the decision of the Indian Supreme Court to force him to step away from involvement in this year’s IPL.

There can be little doubt that Srinivasan’s acolytes in ICC will circle the wagons and create a solution that does its utmost to ensure that crickets Golden Circle are not subject to such a sustained period of embarrassment again. Irrespective of how the Associates perform at next year’s 50 over World Cup in Australasia rest assured that ICC will be putting no pressure on Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, despite or maybe because of their largely appalling performances these past two weeks, to travel to Ireland and thereby risking their participation in the 10 team 2019 World Cup.

Sports followers can be a very fickle lot and many of those who track the progress of Ireland cricket are not immune to that emotion. The shock of the demolition of the Ireland bowling attack by the Dutch seemed to wipe from some observers memories the outstanding achievements of recent years. This was compounded a few days later when the Netherlands crashed to the lowest score in T20 International history.

However subsequent performances in the Tournament revealed that it was the Sri Lankan game that was the freak result and not the one against Ireland. The type of cricket that the Dutch play is ideally suited to this format as they can put everything into 20 overs without worrying about the necessity of being patient which is a requirement in 50 over and four day matches.

They also have some very decent players and had Dirk Nannes and Ryan ten Doeschate been available to them they may well have had even more impressive results. It is their misfortune that when they finally produce consistently good performances that make them genuinely competitive they have nobody to compete against for the foreseeable future. As they are not in the top eight ranked Associates they will almost certainly be excluded from the upcoming Intercontinental Cup and therefor their players will not be able to avail of the opportunity to attain Test status.

That lack of opportunity in all formats bar the 2016 World T20 may well see some of their more exciting players go the route of Nannes and ten Doeschate and become 20 over mercenaries. It would be very sad for Dutch and European cricket if the past two weeks was their valedictory performance on the World stage for the foreseeable future.

For Ireland there is no shortage of opportunities and the result against the Netherlands should have no impact on that. Two Full Members have been dispatched in just over a month and next month Sri Lanka will be in Clontarf for two ODI’s.

Now it really would be looking through rose tinted glasses if I was to suggest that there are not issues that need to be addressed within the Ireland setup. While most of the focus will be concentrated on next year’s World Cup I believe that the upcoming Intercontinental Cup is the most crucial event in the history of Ireland cricket. If there is acceptance of that premise then it is vital that the remainder of the 2014 season has parallel preparation for both events.

T20 cricket is now on the back burner until late next year and between now and then only performances in 50 over cricket or with the red ball are relevant. For the Sri Lanka games it is likely that Phil Simmons will go with pretty much the same squad of players who were successful in the 50 over format last year and that is understandable. However in August Sri Lanka A will be here for three 50 over games followed in September by three ODI’s against Scotland in Malahide.

Sri Lanka A have named a preliminary squad that includes six players who have played both Test and ODI cricket with a further four who have ODI experience. Captained by Upul Tharanga, who has 13 ODI hundreds to his credit, this will be a strongly competitive side which will be superior to either Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. For these games and those against Scotland it is essential that every viable option outside the current squad is given the opportunity to show what they are capable of at a higher level. The results do not matter as they should be secondary to unearthing talent that can enhance the team over the critical three years that lie ahead.

Ireland performed very well with the ball against the West Indies primarily because the wickets were slow and low with the ball gripping in the surface for the spinners and the medium pacers who could take pace off the ball. It was a reasonable expectation that the wickets in Sylhet would be of a similar nature and it was a surprise that they turned out to be flat with a bit of bounce and give little assistance to the bowlers who had served Ireland so well in Jamaica. Neither George Dockrell nor Paul Stirling are big spinners of the ball and if the wicket is flat can be hit through the line without too much fear. Last September against England was a prime example of that when from a promising position Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara put the spin twins to the sword.

Young Andrew McBrine bowled well in Jamaica and in the match against a tentative Zimbabwe but lacked the experience to cope with the maelstrom from the Dutch. I have no doubt that he will be all the better from the lesson. He should bear in mind that Saeed Ajmal went for 41 off his four overs yesterday and he certainly lacks neither experience nor ability. The most significant difference between the West Indies series and Sylhet was the performance of Alex Cusack who was virtually unplayable in Sabina Park where his eight overs went for just 28 runs while he took 6 wickets. However with no help from the surface in Sylhet his nine overs disappeared for 105 runs.

The reality is that in Australasia the wickets will offer little assistance to Cusack as he lacks the pace to make an impression on top class batsmen. This is not a criticism of Alex, who has provided superb service to Ireland, but a reflection of where he now is in his career given his acknowledged difficulties with trying to maintain the level of fitness necessary at international level.

There is also a genuine concern over the absence of at least one bowler who is capable of getting the ball down to the other end with accuracy and in the high eighties in terms of pace. Since the Rubicon days in the West Indies in 2007 Ireland, with the exception of Boyd Rankin, has not produced one native born seamer who has established himself in the side. All of the mainstay pacers such as Trent Johnston, Dave Langford-Smith, Max Sorensen and Tim Murtagh learnt their trade elsewhere and Ireland may have no option to go down that road again if they want to remain competitive against world class batsmen.

A few weeks ago Warren Deutrom gave an interview to the Guardian newspaper where he suggested that provided Boyd Rankin wasn’t picked for England again the ICC would make a concession that would allow the Bready man to play in Australasia. Now no one could ever accuse Warren of making statements that were not considered so it has to be assumed that he has a basis for his comment. For Ireland’s sake it would be great if it were to transpire but it would seem odd that having recently reduced the requalification period to two years it would be halved again. Maybe for once the mysterious ways of the ICC will work in Ireland’s favour.

Ireland sent three seam bowlers to Australia during the winter to play grade cricket and benefit from specialist coaching from the Australian bowling Coach Craig McDermott. One of those, Craig Young, was included in the squad that went to the West Indies and Bangladesh. One has to presume that he was selected because he was deemed to have shown the most progress from the stint down under. However it is difficult to tell what level of progress he made as he did virtually no bowling on the tour.

The other two who spent the winter in Australia were Graeme McCarter and Peter Chase. Based on the performances in grade cricket McCarter would seem to have had the most success which wouldn’t be surprising given that he has played a number of first team games for Gloucestershire. He is a very accurate bowler who can move the ball in the air and off the seam. However in the couple of televised games last year in the CB40 his pace never got above the mid-seventies which put him more at Alex Cusack’s level that Craig Young. Hopefully the coaching will have added a couple of yards of pace to his bowling otherwise he too will struggle on unresponsive surfaces.

If Ireland can’t develop a home grown bowler with genuine pace then they must look further afield. Max Sorensen and Tim Murtagh are currently the first choice opening attack with Murtagh a key element when the Intercontinental Cup comes around as he really is primarily a red ball specialist as his distinguished career in the County Championship has demonstrated. Sorensen is quick by club standards in Irish cricket but has yet to provide sufficient evidence that he has that bit of devil in him that cuts the mustard at a higher level.

To bring in an Ireland qualified player it has to be someone who is better than those who are already available and pace alone is not enough. Inaccurate quick bowlers usually disappear even quicker than poor spinners. Last September I suggested that Ireland should take a look at Tom Curran who is in the Surrey squad.

Every generation of his family back to his Irish born great grandfather has held an Irish passport, including his late father Kevin, the Zimbabwean Test player. Young Tom is only 19 but by all accounts has genuine pace as he demonstrated in a couple of CB40 matches last autumn.

Now it may be that he is only availing of his passport so that he doesn’t count as an overseas player with Surrey and has no interest in playing for Ireland. However his team mate Gary Wilson should be able to clarify what his intentions are and if he is enthusiastic it would be worth giving him a run against Sri Lanka A or Scotland. Matt Dunn is another young pace bowler with Surrey and is Ireland qualified although he has played underage cricket for England.

Neither of these lads have much experience but if they are good enough and willing to play they should be considered. Australasia may be too soon for them but they may be valuable assets come the Intercontinental Cup. There are also a few Australian bowlers with Irish credentials playing in the leagues this year and it will be interesting to see how they measure up.

Ireland also needs a wrist spinner who can add variation to the attack. It is easy to forget that Paul Stirling and George Dockrell are only 23 and 21 respectively given that they have 250 caps between them. They are still developing and will have their fallow periods and a mystery spinner could help take the pressure of their young shoulders. The Interpro’s are just a month away and it provides tremendous opportunities for players to prove that they are worthy of a place in the Ireland squad. Equally important is that if they do show that they have the talent that they are given the chance.

In my next column I will write about the demands of preparation for the I Cup particularly in relation to the batting.

I was going to include a few more comments about the commentaries from Bangladesh but I have written about it a couple of times recently and can’t bring myself to deal with the mind blowing awfulness of most of it tonight. Maybe an end of year poll on the website for worst commentator of the year accompanied by suitable examples would warrant a prize.

Finally one last piece of ICC mumbo jumbo. West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels who bowls off spin was declared by the ICC to have an illegal action when he bowled his quicker ball and is prohibited from bowling it. On three separate occasions in the past week Samuels delivered balls that were clocked on the speed gun as exceeding 107 KPH which is the equivalent of 66MPH.

Now if that is not a quicker ball I don’t know what is. I wonder what instructions are given to the umpires to monitor his bowling or are they supposed to wait for the speed gun reading and judge it from that. Certainly none of the umpires involved showed the slightest bit of interest. Maybe they were mesmerised by the $40,000 LED bails.