Ireland keen to be part of the Twenty20revolution
IRELAND announced themselves as a cricketing nation on the world stage when they unforgettably upset the odds to beat Pakistan in last year's World Cup in the Caribbean.
But cricket has moved on considerably in the 18 months since those golden days in the West Indies, and as the World Twenty20 qualifying competition starts in Belfast this morning, the emphasis has shifted to the shorter form of the game at a pace few could have foreseen.
It started with the money-spinning auctions and fanatical crowds of the Indian Premier League earlier this year, and next there was Texan billionaire Allan Stanford announcing that he is to stage a multi-million dollar one-off Twenty20 match between England and an all-star West Indies team in Antigua in the autumn.
Despite the wrangling between some of the world's top countries, a Twenty20 Champions League involving the best domestic sides from England, South Africa, Australia and India seems inevitable and few sporting occasions could have conjured up as much drama as the fantastic English Twenty20 final between Middlesex and Kent last Saturday.
Quite simply, Twenty20 has become a world phenomenon, and if Ireland can finish in the top three countries over the next four days at Stormont, then they will have earned themselves a place at the richest table in cricket.
Of course, Cricket Ireland want the qualifying tournament to be a commercial success and with Scotland, Canada, Kenya, The Netherlands and Bermuda joining the hosts, there should be plenty of explosive hitting for Belfast's cricketing public to feast on.
But with a huge financial carrot awaiting the top three, all that surely matters is that Ireland are joining the Test match nations in June 2009 for the tournament that will take place at Lord's, The Oval and Trent Bridge.
Ireland certainly look well equipped to reach the finals. Despite never reaching their best form, they won the European Championships in Dublin this week, when they crushed Scotland in the decider, and the Scots and Bermuda are along with Ireland in Group A where each side plays the other once and with the top two reaching the semi-finals.
In an ideal world Ireland will want to reach the final and relax, and avoid what is sure to be a nerve-racking third and fourth place play-off where the stakes could not be higher.
That is a sentiment shared by William Porterfield, the captain, who has played down his country's status as favourites going into the tournament.
"We'd always back ourselves, but we know it's going to be difficult. There's so much at stake, not just in financial terms, but in terms of prestige. The competition in the finals in England is going to be an incredible experience, and we'd like to be there," he said.
"The fact that it looks like there is going to be a third place with Zimbabwe withdrawing, then it takes a wee bit of the pressure off. It means if you lose in the semi-finals, then you're going to have a second chance to qualify. That third/fourth place play off game will probably be the most tense in the whole competition.”
Ireland will certainly want to avoid a repeat of February 2007 in Nairobi when they finished fifth in the ICC World Cricket League Division 1 and consequently failed to qualify for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last year.
Former captain Trent Johnston, who is in the Ireland squad for the tournament, remembers the pain of missing out on South Africa.
“It was heart-breaking, demoralising and devastating. We had left no stone unturned in our preparations but in the tournament, we lost four matches in their closing stages,” he recalled.
“As a captain it was depressing, while the players also took it to heart. But I guess, the Nairobi tournament made us a better, tougher and stronger team because afterwards we won important matches.
“We buried the ghost of the Nairobi tournament at Sabina Park when we defeated Pakistan. But yes, we still rue the lost opportunity of playing in the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa and want to put that right.”
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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