Canberra –The Ireland team that South Africa will face at Manuka Oval tomorrow is “angry” – they don’t play so much with a chip on their shoulder, rather it’s a crate of Pringles.
While the goal for the likes of Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa is picking up the ultimate prize at the MCG on March 29, for Ireland, the World Cup is about proving they belong.
In order to do that, they’ve set themselves the goal of making the quarter-finals of this tournament, at least – a realistic target especially after their win against the West Indies in their opening match. And driven by this need to prove a point, to show the world that they’re not some ‘Cinderella’ team for whom everyone should have sympathy, makes them very dangerous indeed.
The next World Cup in 2019 will see the number of sides reduced from 14 – which it is this year – to 10, which may mean that the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan, two teams who have lit up the tournament, won’t be playing.
Then there’s Ireland’s other goal, to be granted Test status, and this World Cup – while a different format – is a useful vehicle in pressing those ambitions too – South Africa need to be wary tomorrow.
“They are angry and I understand that and it’s a driving factor and something which makes them play even harder to prove the Full Members teams wrong,” said Adrian Birrell, the South African team’s assistant coach.
Birrell should know, he was Ireland’s coach for five years starting in 2002 culminating in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. There they beat two Test nations – Pakistan and Bangladesh, while tying another match against Zimbabwe. Four years later, England were swept aside in a whirlwind of Kevin O’Brien fury in Bangalore.
Birrell is unhappy about the possibility of them not playing the next tournament. “They’ve had success, and a lot of success. It’s definitely not fair. They’ve continued to knock down the door, but they keep getting shut out.”
The Irish captain, William Porterfield, who Birrell worked with in his stint as Ireland’s coach, made the excellent point before the tournament started that cricket appears to be the only game that is down-sizing it’s World Cup.
“I think it’s the only sport in the world that does that when it comes to world events. You have your Champions Trophy every couple years and that’s with the top eight teams. And it wouldn’t be a World Cup if you just keep reducing teams and having only the top few teams that are ranked. So it’s very disappointing and frustrating from our point of view that that’s the way the ICC is viewing things or that’s the way they want things to be,” said Portferfield.
Birrell explained that one of the major reasons behind Ireland’s continued improvement was their players being signed up to English counties. “Since about 2005, a lot of their players have gained county contracts, so they’re playing full-time cricket, they’re playing professionally. When I started there were a couple of professionals and the rest were club cricketers, not earning a living from cricket. Now they’re fully professional, they’re all on contracts with Cricket Ireland and their counties and they are very well prepared. They play a structured brand of cricket. They punch above their weight.”
However it is also through that exposure at county level, that players have been tempted to seek greater international exposure. In recent times they’ve lost both Eoin Morgan and fast bowler Boyd Rankin to England, and while they take some pride in that, there’s also plenty of regret. If Ireland played more and if they had Test status would those players have left?
“It is painful to see Eoin Morgan playing for England, but even more than Morgan, if you look at Boyd Rankin, he played a couple of matches for Ireland and England, and now he doesn’t play in a World Cup for either. Basically he should be playing for Ireland, but because he’s played a couple of matches for England it discounts him. That’s more hurtful, and of course others could follow. Who’s to say there aren’t others who might be picked for England,” added Birrell.
Ireland have chased in both their wins at this year’s tournament – in beating the West Indies, they achieved a target of 300 or more for the third time in a World Cup match, twice doing so against a Full Member nation. “They bat long, they bat deep and they know how to chase targets,” said Birrell. South Africa would be a major scalp and another nail in the ICC’s coffin over the decision to reduce the number of sides for the 2019 World Cup. “It’s a very realistic goal (that they can reach the knockout stages) this year. They are a seriously good team.” – The Star