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,
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| 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.
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| 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.
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