Wednesday 13 June 2012

Cricket Ireland :No Road to go for Hamish Marshall

Hamish Marshall 2nd from left in Dublin in 2010 for a coaching  session
Having been left out of Ireland's 13 man squad for the ODI with Australia on the 23rd of June it seems Hamish Marshall's prospective Ireland career is over before it began. Marshall a former New Zealand international declared for Ireland in April 2010 due to a desire to play cricket at a higher level as well as the chance to become involved in coaching.  He appealed to the ICC to play for Ireland 1 year short of his stand down period(4 years when transferring from a full member side) however this was rejected on the basis that he had no prior connection with Irish cricket.

    His desire to play for Ireland was not artificial or for commercial reasons and since declaring for the country he made himself available for training camps and to help with coaching of underage teams. Despite being short of the 4 year stand down period required to play for another country Marshall was included and played for the Ireland squad which traveled to India in October 2011 for a World Cup preparation camp. Apart from this Marshall made several coaching trips to Ireland in the summer of 2010 while he has also acted as a mentor to Irish youngster Graeme McCarter who is on the books with Gloucester.
     Unfortunately for the player financial rules and ECB regulation have put paid to his chance of wearing the green since. Performance Related Fee Payments (PRFP's) which are due to rise to up to 44% of the counties ECB grant are mainly dependent on England qualified players playing for the county. In normal circumstances for an Irish player, playing for Ireland does not affect these fees as playing for an associate team does not leave you ineligible to play for England. In Marshall's case an ICC rule exists which prohibits players playing for 3 international countries which Marshall would need to do to play for Ireland and then England. To be fair to Gloucester 42% of their income (£1,620,000) in the 16 months to January came from the ECB. If 44% of this came from PRFP Marshall's contract would definitely be under threat. Considering the number of English qualified players in Gloucesters squad at the moment Marshall not playing for Ireland could be worth around circa £30000 per annum something for budgetary reasons neither Gloucester or Cricket Ireland can afford to ignore. Given the issue has not gone sway the ECB have obviously remained tough regarding this case.
   While cost-benefit analysis undoubtedly suggests this money could be better spent by Cricket Ireland given Marshall is now 33 an all rounder with 1500 runs in the ODI field would be useful for Ireland. Looking at the episode from a distance its a murky world we live in when a player who has no chance or desire of ever playing for England can have a substantial contract withdrawn if he chooses to play for another country trying to find its place in the world. Food for thought indeed.

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