BackIreland strikes a blow for minnows
This is the third straight tournament that Ireland has turned over one of the 10 full members of the ICC that play Tests
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Sydney: Ireland’s World Cup victory over West Indies on Monday was the kind of giant-killing that lights up any tournament but cricket fans should enjoy it while they can ahead of format changes for the 2019 version of the event.
It is the third straight tournament that Ireland have turned over one of the 10 “full members" of the International Cricket Council that play test matches and occupy the upper echelons of cricket’s ranking system.
Ireland are one of four “associate members" with Scotland, United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan in the 14-strong field at the tournament but in 2019 only 10 teams will take part, the top eight in the rankings and two qualifiers.
The problem with the current format, according to its many critics, is that the first month of the tournament is played out merely to confirm the top eight in the rankings as the quarter-finalists.
“It’s almost easy, barring the odd upset or someone really having a bad tournament, you can almost predict who the top eight will be," former India skipper Rahul Dravid told ESPN Cricinfo in January.
Ireland may yet throw another hefty spanner or two into those works but from 2019 they will have to battle it out with the lower ranked full members and the other associate members just to get to the tournament in England and Wales.
Depending on the results from the qualifying tournament in Bangladesh in 2018, the next World Cup might go ahead without a single associate member.
Striking the balance between encouraging nations where the sport is growing and enduring a string of unsightly one-sided results in the early rounds can be tough.
Some, like former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith, favour investing heavily to allow the developing nations to grow in strength until they are ready to play at the top level. Up to that point, he believes, they can only detract from what should be the showpiece event for the game. “I feel that tournaments like the World T20 and Champions Trophy will be an opportune time to give these nations the chance to play," he said. “I think throwing them into an event like this every four years is a bit hit-and-miss and takes away from what is an iconic event for cricket."
Ireland skipper William Porterfield, you can be certain, would disagree and on Monday he suggested tearing up the whole system of “full" and “associate" members altogether.
“I don’t see why a team has to be an associate and a team has to be a full member," he told reporters in Nelson. “It’s like sure you’re ranked or whatever. It’s not like that in any other sport, so I don’t see why it has to be like that in ours."
Ireland’s four-wicket victory over West Indies was not an ‘upset’, Porterfield said.
The Irish side never actually looked in trouble at Saxton Oval in Nelson, even if they did allow Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy to put on 154 runs for the sixth wicket and leaked 124 in the final 10 overs.
Simmons’ 102 and Sammy’s 89 gave West Indies a total of 304 for seven, though Porterfield felt the score was about par on the small ground and his side should be able to chase it down.
They did. Comfortably, scoring 307 for six in 45.5 overs, after Porterfield and Paul Stirling put on 71 for the opening wicket.
“Personally, I hate the term upsets from minnows or associates," Porterfield told reporters in Nelson. “I don’t see it as an upset. “We came into the game prepared to win, we’re prepared to go into the UAE game prepared to win and then South Africa and so on.
“We’re looking to pick up two points in every game, and as long as we’re doing the right things and building up to that, then we’re happy."
The victory was Ireland’s fifth in the World Cup since their debut in 2007, with their first victory over a test nation against Pakistan in Jamaica, which they followed up with a win over Bangladesh in Bridgetown.
In 2011 they sealed possibly their biggest victory, beating England by three wickets in Bengaluru with Kevin O’Brien scoring a 50-ball century, the fastest at a World Cup.
Porterfield had claimed even before Monday’s game that a victory would not be a surprise for his team, something he repeated afterwards.
“We always felt under control and never at any stage did we feel like we were under any pressure, which was great," he said. “We knew there was a lot more in the tank from what we had been doing. The way we prepared in the nets and how we’ve gone about things, not just on the cricket pitch but mentally as well, and how we’ve prepared has been great, so it’s nice to get the rewards on day one." Reuters
Greg Stutchbury in Wellington contributed to this story.
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