Sketch: Cricket Ireland V England

It seemed like it would be the most perfect match. Ireland, having

built and built their ODI side, nearly beat Pakistan and were a few runs away from

their first proper ODI series win. Now, just a couple of months later, they faced

an England team coming off an Ashes high, full of that all too

familiar nonchalance - 'it's just those amateur Irish Paddys'. So much

so, they'd filled the side with a second string 'Lions' team, with a

few added extras in from the first pick. I really believed Ireland

would have a chance. In fact, I still believe that if they did play a

series against England, Ireland would win at least one match.

Given this premise, you'd have thought I would've enjoyed the match,

Big changes: From this passion...

on the basis that it is only cricket, after all. But I found myself

taken to as high a level as any sporting contest has taken

me before. It was not just a simple game of 50 overs a side (43 overs,

if you count the fact England knocked them off with 7 to spare).

It was higher than that. It was a battle between Good and Evil. It wasn't

Bopara's amazing propensity suddenly to find run scoring/wicket taking

easy that enraged me. Nor was it Eoin Morgan's slightly patronising

decision to bring on Michael Carberry (who has bowled just 322

balls in his entire List A career). No, it was more than that. It was

that Ireland were being taken apart by Irishmen. Even worse - Irishmen

who were then giving smug Englishmen the excuse to laugh about it on

twitter.

As many will know (if only from my 'About me' page), I am an England

fan. I'm born English - I am far too passionate about England during

the Ashes (even the 06-07 series). But I am an Englishman who prefers

a cricket board that lacks Giles Clarke suave stickiness - Cricket

Ireland; an Englishman who is part Irish, and who would fail Norman

Tebbitt's cricket test. I am hopelessly romantic about Irish

cricket and a nation that lives, cricket-wise, at just about the right

distance behind England. I have fallen for the British tendency to back

the underdog.

So, I return to the dilemma of Good Vs Evil. Here am I, totally

appalled. If they are so bad, how come it took a Derry-born man to

take 4 Irish wickets and a Dublin-born man to score 124 runs and sink

the Irishmen? Would they have tipped the balance in Ireland's favour

had they been playing for their native country? Undoubtedly, yes. And

as the England 'masses', tweeted about how the match was 'a waste of

time' and 'totally pointless as England were always going to win', the

irony hit me. These were fully fledged England fans supporting the

best pick of Irishmen for easily beating the next best lot of

Irishmen. It is cricket's latest wave of colonisation. 

The system should stop players playing against their native country. This injustice

should not be allowed to continue. Morgan and Rankin may have decided to play

cricket for England (understandable, at least in the case of Morgan), but they cannot simply be allowed to sink their own country, especially when they are clearly not surplus to requirements.

Had they both played for Ireland, they could well have put their own

nation's chances of Test cricket a few years forward. Whilst Giles

Clarke may or may not make jokes at Irish expense, the fans certainly do,

However, England are simply delaying the time until (inevitably)

Ireland win a Test series against their old enemies. I for one, will

have my green jersey on that day, for it will be a victory for proper,

grass-roots cricket.

To this...

N.B- No doubt some smart aleck will make the point that Ireland had a

load of Aussies playing for them. Five killer points - 1) Irish

Cricket is currently building up the base from which to play

test-cricket and the best players should always be picked if available -

England have the advantage of being the oldest cricket nation in the

world. 2) Irish cricket's establishment (note my comment on the system

above) is already trying to lessen the influence and selection of

non-Irish players. Already. 3) When Ireland select Aussies, the

Aussies aren't moaning they can't select Trent Johnston, as he is

surplus to requirements - this is clearly never going to be the case

with England selecting Irish cricketers. 4) 7/8 of Ireland's

first-class county players are all Irish. The best Irish players are

Irish. Trott and Pietersen? 5) If Morgan and Rankin were playing for

Ireland, then maybe they could afford to play a fully Irish eleven.

History of Farndon CC - Update

Just a quick blog to update y'all (five of you) interested in my work in researching and writing the history of my local village cricket club, Farndon. For foreign/Brits not familiar with my circumstances - I am referring to Farndon in Nottinghamshire, near the better known Newark-On-Trent, rather than the poor excuse of a Farndon in Cheshire.

Yesterday, rather than drinking like normal, ironic, given it was the eve of my 18th birthday, I went down to the club to secure a vital part of the jigsaw, and something which I can chisel (metaphorically) away at during the winter. I now have all of the score books, dating from 1954 to the present day. Now, to the average reader this may seem insignificant, but given a) the task of looking through the archiving machine at the rather lonely Newark Library and b) the lack of information available in the 50s, 60s and 70s without the score books - now I have them I will probably save countless hours of potentially fruitless research.

The next step will be to arrange and record interviews with players of the 50s, 60s and 70s - again, they provide a valuable anecdotal reference and particularly with sorting out the gaps I have in the leagues Farndon played in - they seem pretty incomprehensible up until the mid 70s.

9-8 - R.Helliwell.

Having had a quick flick through, I have to say I found a few things of interest - 25/07/74 - Mark Fell bats at 11 in his 1st XI debut. Also, as the picture below shows - R.Helliwell in 1975, taking 9 for 8, the best ever bowling in Farndon's history. Fairly remarkable. On the side, there were also some photo-albums, some very useful in showing team photos etc - others just including some lovely images of player's wangers (God knows).

Yesterday, Farndon won promotion to Division D - on my birthday - that in itself will merit an extra chapter - hopefully the club has much greater things to come, as the youth section flourishes and the first team achieve more. I predict we will have another county player within the next decade and a half.