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Craig HillA good excuse to cancel the Zimbabwe tour
March 16th 2007 01:52
World Cup fixtures overnight provided the chalk and cheese of arguments surrounding the inclusion of so called minnow nations at the World Cup.
Bermuda were bowled out for 78 in a highly one-sided affairs against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe and Ireland played out a fascinating tie in Jamaica.
The ICC may well have been stretching it’s available talent pool of nations by including a fourth minnow in the tournament as Bermuda would struggle to beat a Sydney First Grade on their current form.
Zimbabwe vs Ireland however will have been one game that both sides would have been targeting as critical to their passage into the Super 8. Zimbabwe are on the decline, a combination of player leakage and mismanagement (the two fairly well inter tangled) having combined to take the cream off a crop of talented and in some cases World Class cricketers. Ireland on the other hand are a nation on the rise. Many of their top players are contracted to counties in England with a healthy number having come through the MCC Young Cricketers program at Lords. Ed Joyce has gone on to represent England.
Last night’s game saw a thrilling contest with a run out off the last ball sealing the tie, a result Ireland would be happy with given the fact that the game was slipping away from them with Zimbabwe at 5/202 chasing 221.
On the whole the minnow nations are worth their place at the World Cup. It can’t be any more of an inconvenience to play Bermuda in a round robin match that it is to play a local side in a pre tournament warm up and it does wonders for cricket in those nations.
So that begs the final question if Ireland are just as good as Zimbabwe then shouldn’t the ACB be on the phone to their travel agents looking for accommodation in Belfast and Dublin rather than navigating the political minefield that is Zimbabwe and their plainly incompetent and corrupt cricket officials.
Bermuda were bowled out for 78 in a highly one-sided affairs against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe and Ireland played out a fascinating tie in Jamaica.
The ICC may well have been stretching it’s available talent pool of nations by including a fourth minnow in the tournament as Bermuda would struggle to beat a Sydney First Grade on their current form.
Zimbabwe vs Ireland however will have been one game that both sides would have been targeting as critical to their passage into the Super 8. Zimbabwe are on the decline, a combination of player leakage and mismanagement (the two fairly well inter tangled) having combined to take the cream off a crop of talented and in some cases World Class cricketers. Ireland on the other hand are a nation on the rise. Many of their top players are contracted to counties in England with a healthy number having come through the MCC Young Cricketers program at Lords. Ed Joyce has gone on to represent England.
Last night’s game saw a thrilling contest with a run out off the last ball sealing the tie, a result Ireland would be happy with given the fact that the game was slipping away from them with Zimbabwe at 5/202 chasing 221.
On the whole the minnow nations are worth their place at the World Cup. It can’t be any more of an inconvenience to play Bermuda in a round robin match that it is to play a local side in a pre tournament warm up and it does wonders for cricket in those nations.
So that begs the final question if Ireland are just as good as Zimbabwe then shouldn’t the ACB be on the phone to their travel agents looking for accommodation in Belfast and Dublin rather than navigating the political minefield that is Zimbabwe and their plainly incompetent and corrupt cricket officials.
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Comment by Julie Keast
World Where You Live
Comment by DavidH
Defending the indefensible