Cricket in Ireland
Cricket in Ireland is governed by Cricket Ireland, which maintains Ireland's men's and women's cricket teams. Like several other sports in Ireland, cricket is organised on an All-Ireland basis. Following the team's success in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the sport's popularity increased in Ireland. The country was, until 2017, an associate member of the International Cricket Council and played in tournaments like the World Cricket League and ICC Intercontinental Cup, which are qualifying rounds for associate teams to the Cricket World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20. Ireland qualified for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 ICC World Twenty20. In the 2011 World Cup, they beat England in the group matches.
In 2017, domestic cricket in Ireland was recognised as first-class cricket and, in recognition of their progress as a cricketing nation, Ireland was granted Full Member status for the men's national side. Ireland played their first men's Test match against Pakistan in May 2018, losing by 5 wickets. Ireland's women played a Test match prior to full membership. This was in 2000, against the Pakistan women's team.
History
Early history
Cricket has been played in Ireland since at least the 17th century, when Oliver Cromwell issued an edict banning it. It is believed to have been introduced to Ireland by the British. However, recent research claims that Irish troops in the British Army shaped the game's evolution by introducing terms and gameplay from the old Irish game of Catty. The earliest known reference to a match in Ireland is the August 1792 fixture in Dublin between the British garrison and an "All-Ireland" team, the garrison team winning by an innings.File:Cricket, Watford, May 22, 1909.jpg|thumb|right| Irishmen who were British soldiers, probably of the Royal Artillery, in cricket gear, Waterford, May 1909
Cricket was being played in the towns of Kilkenny and Ballinasloe in the early 19th century, with the Ballinasloe club established in 1825. In the 1830s, the game began to decline; although many of the clubs founded in the following 30 years are still in existence today. The first Irish national team played in 1855 against an English national team in Dublin. In the 1850s, the Englishman Charles Lawrence was responsible for developing the game in Ireland through his coaching. In the 1850s and 1860s, Ireland was visited for the first time by touring professional teams. Ireland's first match against Marylebone Cricket Club was in 1858. The game grew in popularity until the early 1880s.
Two changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries damaged the popularity of cricket. The first was the outbreak of the Land War in the late 1800s, resulting from the mistreatment of tenants by absentee landlords. The second was a ban placed in 1901 on the playing of "foreign" games by the Gaelic Athletic Association, which was not lifted until 1970. Anyone playing foreign games, such as cricket, would be banned from the extremely popular Irish games of hurling and Gaelic football, as it was popularly referred to as a 'garrison game' enjoyed primarily by the occupying British forces and the landowning Protestant oligarchy they protected.
Irish teams toured Canada and the United States in 1879, 1888, 1892, and 1909. On top of this, Ireland defeated a touring South African side in 1904. Their first match with first-class status was played on 19 May 1902 against a London County side including W.G. Grace. The Irish, captained by Sir Tim O'Brien, lost convincingly by 238 runs.
Modern era
The 2005 ICC Trophy was hosted by Ireland. After Ireland's successes at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, cricket experienced a popularity boom in Ireland, with participation reaching record levels.Participation
According to the Cricket Ireland strategic plan for 2021–2023, 52,000 people in Ireland play, officiate or administer cricket or are involved in school programmes. This is compared to 13,000 people in 2007.There are more than 120 active cricket clubs on the island. Women and girls make up 19% of participation numbers. Immigration to Ireland has boosted participation, with 70% of people involved through the Leinster Cricket Union being of non-Irish origin.
27,000 children participated in school programs in 2019.
Administration
The Irish Cricket Union – the governing body of Irish cricket – was officially founded in 1923, although its predecessor had been active since 1890.In 2007, it announced major structural changes to bring it in-line with the main cricket governing bodies.
In 2008, the Irish Cricket Union was formally dissolved and replaced with Irish Cricket Union Limited, which would use the trading name of Cricket Ireland. A new governance structure was implemented, with the Board of Directors comprising a chair, six nominees from four Provincial Unions and five independent directors. All Board members are non-executive and act in a voluntary capacity.
Warren Deutrom has served as CEO since 2006.
National Teams
Men's National Team
The Ireland cricket team is the cricket team representing all Ireland. They compete in Test, One Day International and T20I competitions in international cricket. Ireland was granted ODI status after finishing second in the 2005 ICC Trophy, while also qualifying for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the first time they had done so. They were awarded Test status in 2017.Difficulty with player retention
In the period before and after obtaining ODI status, Ireland lost a number of their most talented players to England. This was due to Ireland's lack of professional wages and an inability to play Test cricket. Since gaining Full Member status, no senior player has left to play elsewhere internationally.Dublin-born batsman Ed Joyce had played with some success as part of Ireland's ICC Trophy team and became a key member of the Sussex side in England's County Championship; he also previously captained Middlesex in the 2004 season. Joyce decided to declare for England in 2005 in order to try to play Test cricket, he was called up in 2006 and made his ODI debut against Ireland. Joyce never played a Test for England and returned to play for Ireland in 2011. He retired in 2018 and is now Head Coach of the Ireland Women's team.
Talented batsman Eoin Morgan, who earlier represented Ireland in tournaments, including the ICC World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20, qualified and played for England, making no secret of his desire to play Test cricket. He played 16 Tests for England and captained the ODI team to victory in the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Former Ireland seamer Boyd Rankin also joined England in 2013 before returning to play for Ireland until retiring in 2021.
After the World Cup, Irish cricket experienced a dip in success with poor results in the 2007 Friends Provident Trophy as many players were unavailable. The Irish cricket team was an amateur side at the time and most of the players had full-time jobs with commitments conflicting with cricket. After the World Cup there were delays in paying the players which resulted in them ignoring the press in protest of their treatment after an Intercontinental Cup match against Kenya.
Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of the ICU, had stated that it wanted to "seek actively to place Irish players into top-level cricket, by developing relationships with county cricket which will incorporate appropriate player release for Irish international duty, and feeder systems for developing Irish cricketers". The reorganised ICU has sought closer links with the English counties, to encourage the development of age group cricket, and to introduce a professional element in Ireland. They also want to take the Irish cricket team on winter tours more often. In an attempt to prevent the game losing players to counties or other commitments such as jobs, it was suggested that central contracts should be introduced.
English county competition
Ireland, along with Scotland, has, at times, played in competitions for English county cricket sides, including the Benson & Hedges Cup and the Friends Provident Trophy. Since there is no nationality restriction in county cricket, non-Irish players have competed for Ireland in these matches. For example, Hansie Cronje of South Africa competed for Ireland in the 1997 Benson & Hedges Cup, and more recently New Zealander Jesse Ryder played for Ireland in 2007. In 2004 Ireland beat Surrey by five wickets in the C&G Trophy.For the 2006 season, the C&G Trophy was reorganised to include a round-robin stage instead of being entirely knock-out. Whereas Ireland had only one match guaranteed in the tournament before, they now had more fixtures against English county sides. For the 2006 tournament, they were bolstered by the signings of Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi, the two overseas players they were allowed when competing in English domestic competitions. Ireland recorded one win in their nine matches. Their victory was over Gloucestershire on 30 April by 47 runs.
The C&G Trophy changed its name to Friends Provident Trophy for the 2007 season. In 2007, Ireland played against nine English county sides. Of those nine matches, they lost six and the remaining three matches were abandoned due to rain. They finished bottom in the South Conference of the trophy. For the 2008 season, the round-robin section of the trophy was changed from two divisions to three; Ireland was in the newly formed Midlands Division. In 2008, Ireland played eight games in the Midlands Division, winning one match, with one no result and six losses. They finished last in the division of five teams. Ireland's four wicket victory over Warwickshire on 16 May was Ireland's first win in the competition against a county side for two years. Captain William Porterfield anchored the innings with 69 runs.