For me,this article re-emphasises the points you and Ally made in your Podcast
How can we hope to engage the casual sports fan to Irish cricket when there is huge amounts of uncertainty of when and who Ireland will play, and do these games have any point to them
Alas until the 2 division structure of the WTC and the resurrection of the Superleague happens, where fixtures have to happen and there is consequences to them, not sure there is a positive answer.
I am old enough to remember a time when teams only toured New Zealand at the beginning or end of a tour of Australia, and I suspect that they may be the short term role for Ireland, but here as pre tour of England
Pakistan 2018, definitely benefitted from the Ireland test prior to playing at Lord's and hopefully New Zealand will come away believing the same
It was similarly such a wasted opportunity when the Aussie tour was cancelled last year. Thanks to the May ODI series West Indies could not blame a lack of serious competitive matches in their showing in England this summer for their poor results
And there is hope of India coming late June prior to their England white-ball series
Steve Harmison has argued for teams to come to Ireland and face a good standard of cricket rather than some county 2ndXI.
At least England do play big-name teams, so at least for the non- ticket sports fans they could come to cricket and see names like Bumrah, Head, Williamson, Rabarda every year, and if they see an Irish win, we may have them for life
The fact that they were so reliant on the ETPL money this year, and continue to cling to the ETPL delusion for next year tells us everything we need to know about the quality of person in charge of CI. The whole tournament is an absolute fantasy and will 100% never happen. It's absolutely killing our summer to continue to set aside prime cricketing weeks for a phantom tournament. I wonder how much MacNiece and Deutrom are getting to be part of the ETPL board?
The ETPL is this mythical creature that will save Irish cricket, it throws a huge shadow of uncertainty over the structure of the season, but like those people climbing the hills and disposing of their earthy goods in preparation for the Rapture, they find themselves embarrassed and out of pocket, but seems happy to climb that hill when the next date is predicted
When they announced that the EPTL was moving to late August Early September, then I assumed this was a quiet way of letting it go
Looking at this year's season, those dates would perfectly coincide with the end of the 100 and meat of the CPL
However, now not so certain that we can dismiss it out of hand, not that for a second I think it will happen
Next year England's last match against India is July 20th and then don't play again until August 19th, so I am suspecting the 100 will shift, as I don't think the IPL teams who have invested £100M's will be happy, if box-office names are missing to play tests. And considering all the bad-blood on the Asia trophy, is these players are missing to play tests against Pakistan
If, and with Irish cricket and fixtures, it is a very big if, the India fixtures happen, then Malahide with it's potential 10,000 capacity is the glaringly obvious place to host them.
If, again that if, there are more than 3 fixtures, then there would be a need to share it out, possibly mid week with Bready and/ or Stormont.
Again they cannot host if building work is happening. So Malahide are in some kind of limbo, once India happens or we have certainly that the fixtures won't happen this year, nothing can happen to the ground
one ground definitely can't host 5 matches in close proximity. Too much work for he ground staff. Malahide and Stormont are probably the only grounds big enough capacity wise to host India
One final question (can't promise that I'll keep to this) and I'm afraid that some of it is due to being here in England and having little knowledge of how broadcasting is set up in the Republic
Broadcasting Cricket can be seen behind the Sky sports or TNT paywall, but that limits the interest of the general sports fan, could the occasional match (not that in the last few years there has been enough to share out) be shown of free-to-air?
It was good that BBC Ulster covered the England T20's, and was broadcast to the rest of the UK via 5LiveExtra
What normally happens when Ireland are playing anyone else, do they cover it at all, and if yes is it similar to how local radio covers the county championship?
What about the Republic? I believe BBC is geo-blocked, so what do they get. Is there a station similar to TalkSport here, that would put out your and Ally's commentary on one of its digital channels/internet
So at present, there is no radio feed at all of ireland games. The Beeb stepping in for TMS against england was a rarity, but it went so well they likely will extend things to not just when they play England. Virgin media TV is the most likely for free to air TV (ITV equivalent). CI gets little change out of RTÉ (BBC TV equivalent). There is a commercial radio station similar to Talksport but they haven't shown much of an interest in cricket.
Some if it self-inflicted, the EPTL will it or won't it happen, just for clarity -It Won't
Some of it makes no sense, this proposed tri-series before the T20 world Cup, I imagine in a similar format to the Ire-Scot-Ned prior to last mens World cup,in June must happen, regardless of whether the Woman qualify or not, it is realistically the only time they will play at home this year.
If they qualify then there is a month tied up, if they don't who will they play before August.
Some is based a strong hope, namely the India white ball series
So when will these fixtures be inked in, Which brings me back to the New Zealand test
This is the only game which can be inked in now. The noises coming out of CI all but guarantees it will happen, but the dates available are very narrow. Logic, is there a place for this in cricket, says where is the win-win, New Zealand won't it ending too close to the Lord's Test as back-to-back tests are to get through rather than volunteer for, Ireland want maximum tickets sales, best done by ensuring that the Bank holiday weekend is within the first 4 days of the test.
So that just leaves Friday 22nd or Saturday 23rd as the starting dates
Is it too much to ask for one bit of certainty, One date inked in?
To paraphrase the words of Columbo "just one more thing"
If CI do want to host a pre world cup tri-seies it has to start about 30th May, and I don't think CI has the resources to run 2 events simultaneously or even back-to-back, so even more reason for 22nd/23rd
I even looked at New Zealand's web-site to see if they had done an England and another dates themselves, but no
For me,this article re-emphasises the points you and Ally made in your Podcast
How can we hope to engage the casual sports fan to Irish cricket when there is huge amounts of uncertainty of when and who Ireland will play, and do these games have any point to them
Alas until the 2 division structure of the WTC and the resurrection of the Superleague happens, where fixtures have to happen and there is consequences to them, not sure there is a positive answer.
I am old enough to remember a time when teams only toured New Zealand at the beginning or end of a tour of Australia, and I suspect that they may be the short term role for Ireland, but here as pre tour of England
Pakistan 2018, definitely benefitted from the Ireland test prior to playing at Lord's and hopefully New Zealand will come away believing the same
It was similarly such a wasted opportunity when the Aussie tour was cancelled last year. Thanks to the May ODI series West Indies could not blame a lack of serious competitive matches in their showing in England this summer for their poor results
And there is hope of India coming late June prior to their England white-ball series
Steve Harmison has argued for teams to come to Ireland and face a good standard of cricket rather than some county 2ndXI.
At least England do play big-name teams, so at least for the non- ticket sports fans they could come to cricket and see names like Bumrah, Head, Williamson, Rabarda every year, and if they see an Irish win, we may have them for life
The fact that they were so reliant on the ETPL money this year, and continue to cling to the ETPL delusion for next year tells us everything we need to know about the quality of person in charge of CI. The whole tournament is an absolute fantasy and will 100% never happen. It's absolutely killing our summer to continue to set aside prime cricketing weeks for a phantom tournament. I wonder how much MacNiece and Deutrom are getting to be part of the ETPL board?
The ETPL is this mythical creature that will save Irish cricket, it throws a huge shadow of uncertainty over the structure of the season, but like those people climbing the hills and disposing of their earthy goods in preparation for the Rapture, they find themselves embarrassed and out of pocket, but seems happy to climb that hill when the next date is predicted
When they announced that the EPTL was moving to late August Early September, then I assumed this was a quiet way of letting it go
Looking at this year's season, those dates would perfectly coincide with the end of the 100 and meat of the CPL
However, now not so certain that we can dismiss it out of hand, not that for a second I think it will happen
Next year England's last match against India is July 20th and then don't play again until August 19th, so I am suspecting the 100 will shift, as I don't think the IPL teams who have invested £100M's will be happy, if box-office names are missing to play tests. And considering all the bad-blood on the Asia trophy, is these players are missing to play tests against Pakistan
Malahide have got the planning approval for their pavilion upgrade. Will they be hosting more international matches in 2026?
If, and with Irish cricket and fixtures, it is a very big if, the India fixtures happen, then Malahide with it's potential 10,000 capacity is the glaringly obvious place to host them.
If, again that if, there are more than 3 fixtures, then there would be a need to share it out, possibly mid week with Bready and/ or Stormont.
Again they cannot host if building work is happening. So Malahide are in some kind of limbo, once India happens or we have certainly that the fixtures won't happen this year, nothing can happen to the ground
one ground definitely can't host 5 matches in close proximity. Too much work for he ground staff. Malahide and Stormont are probably the only grounds big enough capacity wise to host India
One final question (can't promise that I'll keep to this) and I'm afraid that some of it is due to being here in England and having little knowledge of how broadcasting is set up in the Republic
Broadcasting Cricket can be seen behind the Sky sports or TNT paywall, but that limits the interest of the general sports fan, could the occasional match (not that in the last few years there has been enough to share out) be shown of free-to-air?
It was good that BBC Ulster covered the England T20's, and was broadcast to the rest of the UK via 5LiveExtra
What normally happens when Ireland are playing anyone else, do they cover it at all, and if yes is it similar to how local radio covers the county championship?
What about the Republic? I believe BBC is geo-blocked, so what do they get. Is there a station similar to TalkSport here, that would put out your and Ally's commentary on one of its digital channels/internet
So at present, there is no radio feed at all of ireland games. The Beeb stepping in for TMS against england was a rarity, but it went so well they likely will extend things to not just when they play England. Virgin media TV is the most likely for free to air TV (ITV equivalent). CI gets little change out of RTÉ (BBC TV equivalent). There is a commercial radio station similar to Talksport but they haven't shown much of an interest in cricket.
Uncertainty
Some if it self-inflicted, the EPTL will it or won't it happen, just for clarity -It Won't
Some of it makes no sense, this proposed tri-series before the T20 world Cup, I imagine in a similar format to the Ire-Scot-Ned prior to last mens World cup,in June must happen, regardless of whether the Woman qualify or not, it is realistically the only time they will play at home this year.
If they qualify then there is a month tied up, if they don't who will they play before August.
Some is based a strong hope, namely the India white ball series
So when will these fixtures be inked in, Which brings me back to the New Zealand test
This is the only game which can be inked in now. The noises coming out of CI all but guarantees it will happen, but the dates available are very narrow. Logic, is there a place for this in cricket, says where is the win-win, New Zealand won't it ending too close to the Lord's Test as back-to-back tests are to get through rather than volunteer for, Ireland want maximum tickets sales, best done by ensuring that the Bank holiday weekend is within the first 4 days of the test.
So that just leaves Friday 22nd or Saturday 23rd as the starting dates
Is it too much to ask for one bit of certainty, One date inked in?
Ah, that elusive certainty...
To quote one of my favourite songs
"Don't start me talking
I could talk all night"
It was a hit before your parents met, I think Ally would have been 9 so he may not be much of a reference point
To paraphrase the words of Columbo "just one more thing"
If CI do want to host a pre world cup tri-seies it has to start about 30th May, and I don't think CI has the resources to run 2 events simultaneously or even back-to-back, so even more reason for 22nd/23rd
I even looked at New Zealand's web-site to see if they had done an England and another dates themselves, but no