Comments on: England should play one Test against Ireland every year

By: Bert

Bert — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 13:02:55 +0000

I’ve been away for a couple of days, so I thought I’d catch up on things via the internet. Apparently there’s been a collision. But not just any old collision, this one happened 135 million years ago and involved “the densest thing in the universe”.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, to find that David Warner had been saying something only yesterday.

By: King Cricket

King Cricket — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 11:40:23 +0000

In reply to Fried.

By: Fried

Fried — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 10:30:50 +0000

In other news, Salman Butt is now lecturing Peshawar on the Spirit of the Game after their bowler ran out his non-striker in accordance with some law or other that recently got clarified to make it more clear that it’s actually legal so people stop moaning.

By: PaulFrame85

PaulFrame85 — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 10:10:13 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly.

We could also do a “Cricket 5 nations” tournament to replace one of the ODI series (if the format exists after the 2019 World cup that is).

England
Ireland
Scotland
The Netherlands
Touring Team

All play 1 match against each other and the winner is decided on points or net run rate.

Package the tournament up and sell the rights on the same basis that the 6 nations do with rugby.

Also let’s get Scotland an ODI at Lord’s vs England. The Ireland ODI was great this year.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 09:51:42 +0000

In reply to JB. Can't promise that Ireland will beat England within three days every time, JB, but we'll give it a go.

By: Ged

Ged — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 08:27:17 +0000

I love the idea of an annual England v Ireland test match.

Surely it would/should alternate between being hosted in England and hosted in Ireland.

It shouldn’t always be at Lord’s when hosted in England, but I think Lord’s would work well for it – you’d certainly get a decent sized crowd at Lord’s. Oval too. Old Trafford and Edgbaston also seem like good candidates, with substantial Irish populations of their own and good transport links to Ireland.

If the fixture became established as “a thing”, then it should be possible to get a decent-sized crowd at any test ground for the fixture. The difficulty indeed might be under capacity at the relatively small grounds in Ireland.

The key to it, though, would be for Ireland to be a competitive first class side. I am a huge fan of Eoin Morgan but try as he might he is not very good at red ball cricket, so I don’t think he is the answer.

I hope the ICC and established national boards will be imaginative regarding new test nations and the ability of players from those places to play first class cricket abroad while remaining qualified to play internationally for their countries. The current rules, complicated further by Brexit, will put many Irish players in ludicrous decision-making quandaries at just the wrong time.

By: King Cricket

King Cricket — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:11:52 +0000

In reply to Dan M. Maybe, but can't help but feel that England v Ireland warrants a different sort of ambience.

By: King Cricket

King Cricket — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:10:30 +0000

In reply to deiseach. Maybe not a mad clamour, but several English cities aren't wanting for Irish and we also get the feeling it would be a more appealing fixture for the natives than some of the recent springtime touring sides.

By: King Cricket

King Cricket — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:07:48 +0000

In reply to A P Webster. Absolutely.

By: Dan M

Dan M — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 21:27:49 +0000

In reply to deiseach. It could be a way to satisfy the "Lord's must host two Tests a year" crowd while offering more high-profile matches to the other grounds.