The white ball series for India in England is sold out, from attending these matches in recent past, the make of the crowd is mostly Indian and diaspora. And from my experience with my Indian doctors, many are desperate to see India play
If India do play some T20’s vs Ireland then Belfast (or Bristol) would make a lot of sense
Just did a google search and Indian nations resident in England need some sort of visa to enter the Republic, these won’t be needed for Belfast
To a very limited extent I do have some sympathy with the ECB, very much in contrast to CI, they do worry about workload and fitting it all in (although it would be easier if the hadn’t given a prime month away for the 100!)
Also I suspect, despite recent history of either losing (2022) or losing at abandonment (2024) or unconvincing close wins (2026 x2) they feel that the European teams are beneath them and they will have nothing to learn
For me a simple(?!) solution would be to play it as a curtain raiser for the season
If 6 teams are involved then that would be 15 matches, which with double headers, I have become a fan of the style of double headers that I am seeing in this World Cup, where matches are played concurrently but in different venues, could be played over 9 days (using 2 full weekends)
It would have to be in England, initially, and the 5 matches involved England at a test venue and the other 10 in 2 nearby county grounds
An advantage for England, by having it early in the season then England will be missing a healthy number of their team to IPL commitments, so it will give England the natural opportunity to field a team of some 1st teamers and also have a look at the marginal players knocking on the door, as we saw with the England team selected for the ODI series vs Ireland in 2023, they do have enough depth to do this without a significant drop off in quality
Six Nations Cricket should be a priority over ETPL. If there is a conflict in the fixture then so be it.
No cricket in Dublin
The white ball series for India in England is sold out, from attending these matches in recent past, the make of the crowd is mostly Indian and diaspora. And from my experience with my Indian doctors, many are desperate to see India play
If India do play some T20’s vs Ireland then Belfast (or Bristol) would make a lot of sense
Just did a google search and Indian nations resident in England need some sort of visa to enter the Republic, these won’t be needed for Belfast
The European Cup
England are reluctant to pay for/ play in it.
To a very limited extent I do have some sympathy with the ECB, very much in contrast to CI, they do worry about workload and fitting it all in (although it would be easier if the hadn’t given a prime month away for the 100!)
Also I suspect, despite recent history of either losing (2022) or losing at abandonment (2024) or unconvincing close wins (2026 x2) they feel that the European teams are beneath them and they will have nothing to learn
For me a simple(?!) solution would be to play it as a curtain raiser for the season
If 6 teams are involved then that would be 15 matches, which with double headers, I have become a fan of the style of double headers that I am seeing in this World Cup, where matches are played concurrently but in different venues, could be played over 9 days (using 2 full weekends)
It would have to be in England, initially, and the 5 matches involved England at a test venue and the other 10 in 2 nearby county grounds
An advantage for England, by having it early in the season then England will be missing a healthy number of their team to IPL commitments, so it will give England the natural opportunity to field a team of some 1st teamers and also have a look at the marginal players knocking on the door, as we saw with the England team selected for the ODI series vs Ireland in 2023, they do have enough depth to do this without a significant drop off in quality
Thank you for releasing this and the Irish Cricket Podcast before I left to internet uncertain Far East,
Especially considering the subject, sometimes I think you did this just for me 🤣
Signed
A very happy subscriber