As the rain cascades down outside my window, turning my garden into an Olympic sized swimming pool, the prospect of an uninterrupted match twenty miles away in Malahide this Friday is becoming increasingly more doubtful.
Following the stunning success (result apart) of the September 2013 duel in the sun, Cricket Ireland will be praying that the weather forecast is wrong and yet again some 10,000 people will fill one of the most picturesque grounds in international cricket.
They will be there to acclaim the players who won three World Cup final matches and kept the country’s cricket lovers and many others enthralled during half a dozen winter nights.
However sport moves on rapidly and this match is the first in a crucial series of matches throughout the rest of the year. Ireland will go into a game for the first time since 2007 without the imposing presence of Phil Simmons and it will be intriguing to see if there is any hint of a different dynamic about how the contest is approached.
The new coach, John Bracewell, will be present only in an observatory role but you can be certain that he will be keeping a very close eye on the squad that he has inherited, particularly the home based players.
Anyone who cares about Irish cricket will wish Bracewell every success in his tenure but hopes and wishes alone will not be sufficient to raise Ireland to the next level. The new coach is a veteran of 94 international matches for New Zealand and his five year coaching stint with his native country saw an excellent return of 61 wins in 106 ODI games but a less than satisfactory 13 victories in 41 Tests, 20 of which were lost.
When he left several months before the end of his contract he had some interesting views on his stint. "I feel as though I've given it a honest shot but in terms of pure statistics or results New Zealand Cricket wanted us to be No. 1 in world cricket in both forms of the game and we didn't reach that, so if you look at it like that I've been a failure," Bracewell told the Dominion Post.
"In Test cricket our planning has been very, very good in that we often get ourselves in a position to win but often we run out of steam trying to fulfil that," he said. "That is disappointing, but there are not too many Tests that we don't put ourselves in a position to win at some stage. We just lose critical moments too often." He has also had a less than straightforward relationship with the media which he summed up as "At times both the media and myself weren't the best of friends but that is the nature of the business," he said.
"If it's a kiss-arse business, you are in the wrong one, both from a media perspective and a coaching perspective.
"You've got to cop it and sometimes you've got to give it and you regret that you've given it because the media always have the last shot."
One of the difficulties that arose was the controversy caused by his introduction of a “peer-appraisal” system which entailed the players rating each other at the end of each days play against preset goals. It left some players unhappy but it was senior ex-players especially Martin Crowe who raged against Bracewell’s methods going as far as saying about his reign "The last five years have been probably the most destructive to our game in the history of our game."
In fairness to Bracewell he was being judged on results in a Test playing cricket nation with a much greater cricketing culture than exists here. Were Ireland to win 61 of its next 106 ODI’s against Full Member sides it would be happy days and even happier were they to win 13 of their first 41 Tests.
It was at Gloucestershire at the turn of the century that Bracewell made his name as a coach when he led the county to six one-day trophies, four more than they had won in their history although his second stint which finished last December was a lot less successful.
His big advantage is that he has vast knowledge of all of the Ireland players on the county circuit and indeed has coached both William Porterfield and Kevin O’Brien who have both been complimentary about his abilities. Whether or not it was a good idea by Cricket Ireland to consult the present captain prior to the coach’s appointment is another matter.
If he had have been negative would it adversely affected the appointment?
It would appear that his primary objective has been set as winning the Intercontinental Cup and thus qualifying for the Test challenge against the then 10th ranked FM. Given that Ireland has won four of the last five editions of the trophy and only lost two of the 32 matches that they have played, that task is not as onerous as it sounds.
With Ed Joyce intending to play on, the best batting squad in the history of the tournament will still be available and now having been augmented by Andrew Balbirnie with others waiting in the wings, runs should not be an issue.
However Bracewell’s priority has to be the bowling which applies to all three formats. Essentially the same group of bowlers operates across all formats and risks will have to be taken to ensure that what is already an Achilles heel does not totally cripple the team’s ambitions.
The squad named for the England match is the same that was in Australasia except for Max Sorensen and Peter Chase (who must have been less than impressive in his water carrying duties) while Tim Murtagh returned after injury only to injure himself again and withdraw.
It is conceivable that the same eleven who played in the final match against Pakistan will be selected again thus ensuring that Craig Young is denied the opportunity to demonstrate what might have been down under. I realise that Bracewell has no official role on Friday but a quiet word in Porterfield’s ear to remind him of the potential foolishness of going with the same bowling attack that, with honourable exceptions, was decimated only a few weeks ago.
Ireland’s absence from the World Cricket League will in my view be detrimental to the development of the team especially the bowling unit. The reality is that Ireland is unlikely to get enough additional replacement matches against Full Members to compensate for the loss of the fourteen matches in the WCL.
Given the ranking points situation, Ireland is now in tenth place above Zimbabwe, you could understand a reluctance to experiment when crucial points are at stake. Surely it must be possible to arrange 50 over matches against our Intercontinental Cup opponents, which don’t need to be ODI’s, and therefor allow new bowlers the opportunity to test themselves at a higher level. A series of A team games is also essential to our development and John Bracewell’s experience in the international arena should be valuable in augmenting the efforts of Warren Deutrom and co.
Again there has been criticism of the squad selected by England but in all honesty this might be a more competitive eleven that the sorry bunch that exited the World Cup with their tails very firmly between their legs. With aggressive batsmen such as Alex Hales, James Vince, Jason Roy, Johnny Bairstow and Sam Billings intent on proving that they have what it takes to replace the mediocrity that prevailed a few weeks ago this could well be a tougher test than several of the games in Australia.
The bowling with pace from Finn and Bresnan together with genuine potential from Mark Wood and Lewis Gregory will trouble any team on a wicket that has to be green after all the rain. And even were he to bowl left handed Adil Rashid would surely be a bigger threat that Moeen Ali and Joe Root showed this week in Barbados.
Callow and all as the England team is I suspect that the conditions will sway the advantage to their bowling attack and negate the ODI experience of the Ireland batting line-up. Whatever happens I hope that John Bracewell sees enough to encourage him in his quest to raise the bar yet again as each of his two predecessors achieved.
Following the stunning success (result apart) of the September 2013 duel in the sun, Cricket Ireland will be praying that the weather forecast is wrong and yet again some 10,000 people will fill one of the most picturesque grounds in international cricket.
They will be there to acclaim the players who won three World Cup final matches and kept the country’s cricket lovers and many others enthralled during half a dozen winter nights.
However sport moves on rapidly and this match is the first in a crucial series of matches throughout the rest of the year. Ireland will go into a game for the first time since 2007 without the imposing presence of Phil Simmons and it will be intriguing to see if there is any hint of a different dynamic about how the contest is approached.
The new coach, John Bracewell, will be present only in an observatory role but you can be certain that he will be keeping a very close eye on the squad that he has inherited, particularly the home based players.
Anyone who cares about Irish cricket will wish Bracewell every success in his tenure but hopes and wishes alone will not be sufficient to raise Ireland to the next level. The new coach is a veteran of 94 international matches for New Zealand and his five year coaching stint with his native country saw an excellent return of 61 wins in 106 ODI games but a less than satisfactory 13 victories in 41 Tests, 20 of which were lost.
When he left several months before the end of his contract he had some interesting views on his stint. "I feel as though I've given it a honest shot but in terms of pure statistics or results New Zealand Cricket wanted us to be No. 1 in world cricket in both forms of the game and we didn't reach that, so if you look at it like that I've been a failure," Bracewell told the Dominion Post.
"In Test cricket our planning has been very, very good in that we often get ourselves in a position to win but often we run out of steam trying to fulfil that," he said. "That is disappointing, but there are not too many Tests that we don't put ourselves in a position to win at some stage. We just lose critical moments too often." He has also had a less than straightforward relationship with the media which he summed up as "At times both the media and myself weren't the best of friends but that is the nature of the business," he said.
"If it's a kiss-arse business, you are in the wrong one, both from a media perspective and a coaching perspective.
"You've got to cop it and sometimes you've got to give it and you regret that you've given it because the media always have the last shot."
One of the difficulties that arose was the controversy caused by his introduction of a “peer-appraisal” system which entailed the players rating each other at the end of each days play against preset goals. It left some players unhappy but it was senior ex-players especially Martin Crowe who raged against Bracewell’s methods going as far as saying about his reign "The last five years have been probably the most destructive to our game in the history of our game."
In fairness to Bracewell he was being judged on results in a Test playing cricket nation with a much greater cricketing culture than exists here. Were Ireland to win 61 of its next 106 ODI’s against Full Member sides it would be happy days and even happier were they to win 13 of their first 41 Tests.
It was at Gloucestershire at the turn of the century that Bracewell made his name as a coach when he led the county to six one-day trophies, four more than they had won in their history although his second stint which finished last December was a lot less successful.
His big advantage is that he has vast knowledge of all of the Ireland players on the county circuit and indeed has coached both William Porterfield and Kevin O’Brien who have both been complimentary about his abilities. Whether or not it was a good idea by Cricket Ireland to consult the present captain prior to the coach’s appointment is another matter.
If he had have been negative would it adversely affected the appointment?
It would appear that his primary objective has been set as winning the Intercontinental Cup and thus qualifying for the Test challenge against the then 10th ranked FM. Given that Ireland has won four of the last five editions of the trophy and only lost two of the 32 matches that they have played, that task is not as onerous as it sounds.
With Ed Joyce intending to play on, the best batting squad in the history of the tournament will still be available and now having been augmented by Andrew Balbirnie with others waiting in the wings, runs should not be an issue.
However Bracewell’s priority has to be the bowling which applies to all three formats. Essentially the same group of bowlers operates across all formats and risks will have to be taken to ensure that what is already an Achilles heel does not totally cripple the team’s ambitions.
The squad named for the England match is the same that was in Australasia except for Max Sorensen and Peter Chase (who must have been less than impressive in his water carrying duties) while Tim Murtagh returned after injury only to injure himself again and withdraw.
It is conceivable that the same eleven who played in the final match against Pakistan will be selected again thus ensuring that Craig Young is denied the opportunity to demonstrate what might have been down under. I realise that Bracewell has no official role on Friday but a quiet word in Porterfield’s ear to remind him of the potential foolishness of going with the same bowling attack that, with honourable exceptions, was decimated only a few weeks ago.
Ireland’s absence from the World Cricket League will in my view be detrimental to the development of the team especially the bowling unit. The reality is that Ireland is unlikely to get enough additional replacement matches against Full Members to compensate for the loss of the fourteen matches in the WCL.
Given the ranking points situation, Ireland is now in tenth place above Zimbabwe, you could understand a reluctance to experiment when crucial points are at stake. Surely it must be possible to arrange 50 over matches against our Intercontinental Cup opponents, which don’t need to be ODI’s, and therefor allow new bowlers the opportunity to test themselves at a higher level. A series of A team games is also essential to our development and John Bracewell’s experience in the international arena should be valuable in augmenting the efforts of Warren Deutrom and co.
Again there has been criticism of the squad selected by England but in all honesty this might be a more competitive eleven that the sorry bunch that exited the World Cup with their tails very firmly between their legs. With aggressive batsmen such as Alex Hales, James Vince, Jason Roy, Johnny Bairstow and Sam Billings intent on proving that they have what it takes to replace the mediocrity that prevailed a few weeks ago this could well be a tougher test than several of the games in Australia.
The bowling with pace from Finn and Bresnan together with genuine potential from Mark Wood and Lewis Gregory will trouble any team on a wicket that has to be green after all the rain. And even were he to bowl left handed Adil Rashid would surely be a bigger threat that Moeen Ali and Joe Root showed this week in Barbados.
Callow and all as the England team is I suspect that the conditions will sway the advantage to their bowling attack and negate the ODI experience of the Ireland batting line-up. Whatever happens I hope that John Bracewell sees enough to encourage him in his quest to raise the bar yet again as each of his two predecessors achieved.