Cricket Ireland : Could a tour of Australia and New Zealand work

Will Porterfield and Michael Clarke 'You can stand under my  Umbrella'

Being a fan of the Irish cricket team can be a tough gig at times. In saying this I'm not referring to the teams performances. As much as they suffer highs and lows like most teams its the weather in Ireland thats grinding my gear.


The statistics for International games affected by weather in Ireland are quite incredible and outside of world cups these rare fixtures are the only times Ireland cricket fans can see their team compete with full member countries. Of course hosting games is where its at for Cricket Ireland in terms of generating revenue and giving their sponsors some advertising time but wouldn't it be nice if Ireland had the opportunity to tour test nations during windows in the Future Tours Programme. With the exception of Bangladesh in 2008 and Zimbabwe in 2010 Ireland have not had the opportunity to tours full member countries. The recent rain affected once off ODI against Australia probably means Ireland won't have a fifty over opportunity against Australia for at least another two years. My question is why the notion of Ireland returning the favour and touring the southern hemisphere seems to be completely out of the question.


With the recent declaration by Cricket Ireland of a desire to play 12-15 international fixtures in a year and the extra $500,000 funding from the TAPP(Targetted Assistance Performance Programme) the time is right for Cricket Ireland to suggest a tour down under and for administrators in Australia or New Zealand or both to say yes with both sporting and commercial benefits for all parties. One of the reasons I see these two countries as ideal for Ireland to look to tour is the fact their summer takes place between November and Februray meaning county contracted players would not suffer from release issues and the squad could enjoy the length of time together an international team requires, something not always possible prior to a home international. Another glimmer of hope for such a tour could be the amount of Irish and Irish descendents currently settled in the southern hemisphere. An argument against this might be that Irish people have no great desire to attend cricket matches but I'm not convinced there is much relevance to this thought here. Precedence has shown that when an Irish team has played in these two countries the Irish have turned out regardless of the sport. A recent example would be the 2011 International rules series (A hybrid cross between gaelic football and Aussie Rules) held in both Melbourne and Brisbane where despite two poor attendances the Irish it was generally agreed outnumbered the Aussies in their own patch. Rugby union via the World Cup in New Zealand has shown the sheer number of Irish people in these two countries looking for opportunities to make a connection with their country. Correct marketing of such a series would attract these people in my opinion.

There are obstacles to such a tour occuring. One is that the summers of 2012 and 2013 are full of fixtures for Australia particularly and to a lesser degree New Zealand. My feeling is a tour taking in both countries at once would be the best way of facilitating fixtures already in the calender. The breakdown could be 2 ODI's in Australia with Perth possibly as a host city given the number of Irish migrants currently inhabiting the city and the WACA's 24,500 capacity being one of the smaller stadiums available to Cricket Australia. These fixtures could be placed immediately before the visit of another major nation giving Australia the opportunity to use the games as a warm up or a chance to experiment with selection. Gaps do exist for New Zealand particularly prior to England's visit in February 2013 and India's tour in February 2014. 3 ODI's and 1 first class match could be an option here with fixtures preferably split between the North and South Island to maximize attendance. A tour of this length could be a significant plus for a developing Irish team who simply need more fixtures. Aside from calender space financial considerations are the other reason why such a tour could be deemed nonviable. Taking Ireland first increased ICC funding and sponsorship should mean that this tour would be more than possible even with the competing priorities which have come on stream. ICC regulations dictate that the host country foots most of the bill for any scheduled tours which obviously suits Ireland in this instance. The question is whether there is enough commercial potential for such a tour to persuade Australia and New Zealand the green light. I've stated above how I believe if correctly marketed the Irish would attend however a competitive Irish team is what would determine the number of Australians or New Zealanders who would attend. The fact Bangladesh have never been given the opportunity to tour India emphasizes how important a dynamic Irish team would be.

I believe this Irish team can continue to improve. If they do there's no good reason why this should stay a pipe dream.