The date is finally out- Ireland will be playing their historic first-ever Test match from May 11 next year against an opposition they hold some really amazing memory with. Ireland, the latest full member of the International Cricket Body (ICC), will take on Pakistan in their inaugural Test, Cricket Ireland (CI) confirmed. The game will be played in Ireland but the venue for the same is yet to be finalised.
Ireland and Afghanistan became the full members of the ICC earlier this year in June and thus earning the status of Test playing nation. Ireland, one of the most consistent sides when it an associate nation, had expressed their desire to play their maiden Test within a year off earning the full-member status and consequently finalised Pakistan as their opponents on earlier this month at the ICC Meeting in New Zealand.
In addition to finalising the date for the historic game, CI also formed a High Performance Committee which has been given the responsibility to deal with the oversight and strategic implementation of high performance areas including selection for both men’s and women’s teams.
“This new Committee is a reflection of the need for specialised skills and experience in the modern, professional high performance sphere as Irish cricket develops as a fully-fledged Test nation,” Richard Holdsworth, CI Performance Director, said. “Having a stand-alone performance committee also reflects best practice in other major sports while we are delighted with the caliber of our first intake on the committee, comprising high-quality individuals from inside and outside cricket.”
Another topic that was pondered upon during the board meeting was to deal with the unfavourable as well as unsuitable weather for the game. The talk was initialed after Ireland’s one-off ODI against the Windies on September 13 was washed out without a ball being bowled.
“Our washed-out ODI against Windies in Stormont a few weeks back gave us much to ponder. On reflection, there is probably too much simple acceptance of bad weather affecting our games given our geography, and probably not enough being done to mitigate it. The fact it rained most of the afternoon and previous fortnight isn’t the point, rather it was the apparent lack of resource around getting play started when it was dry and sunny,” Holdsworth said.
“We know we are being held to a higher standard now that we are a Full Member – we need to look in the mirror on this one, and it is an area in which we have a lot of work to do. The Cricket Committee has acted quickly to give us some recommendations for future action which we shall now take forward,’ he added.