The Emerald Challenge and Ireland's information vacuum

If an Emerald Challenge falls in the woods but nobody sees it...

Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan. 📸: Cricket Ireland

Be honest. Did you remember that a series of intersquad games between the country’s best male cricketers was about to start?

Monday sees the first game of the three-match Emerald Challenge. It’s a reprise of the ‘best vs best’ concept used to prepare Ireland for their Test match against Zimbabwe last year. The Raiders and the Strikers are the two teams involved.

Only two days ago, less than 48 hours out from the first ball being bowled, we didn’t actually know who would be playing on these relatively new teams. No squads had been announced. Will there be a stream? No detail was offered other than date and venue.

So what?

While Cricket Ireland is clearly keen on pushing the identity of these two teams - they will be the likely vehicle through which First Class cricket returns, if and when it does - these games are just practice matches. There’s no competition to win. Selection for the upcoming England series isn’t a factor either, Cricket Europe reporting that the squad was picked a fortnight ago. These games don’t really matter.

Only they were sold to us, the cricketing public, as something more meaningful. These were the games which were to replace the European T20 Premier League once that competition was postponed. Here’s Graeme West, CI’s director of high performance:

“We have been exploring a number of options to increase cricket content for the senior men’s squad following the postponement of the ETPL. After consulting with coaching staff, we determined that a block of 50-over matches that saw the best Irish cricketers in this format battling it out – similar in nature to last year’s Emerald Challenge – would be the preferred option. The three matches will be played at Stormont and any local fans who want to see the best Irish players on display are welcome to attend.”

These games weren’t just for players. The message is clear; this was supposed to be an olive branch of sorts offered to fans disappointed by a lack of summer men’s cricket. Why else would they make a significant announcement on the games back in July, if not to try and appease a frustrated public?

Yet here we were on Saturday afternoon with no more detail than July 25th when we were first told of the Emerald Challenge’s existence. Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s a fan called Irish Cricket Nut on Twitter. The handle should give some sort of indication of how keen they were for information on the games.

“No fan could have known they start Monday! Absolutely no chance of any engagement in that sense. In hindsight they shouldn’t have even announced these fixtures, just played them. ‘Here’s more games; by the way you won’t know the date, squads and can’t watch!’”

There are caveats. The squads for the Emerald games were only finalised on Friday, such was the waiting for updates on injured players. Still, even if that information was shared, it would have been helpful.

The lack of thought towards public awareness continued when on Saturday, 43 minutes after a Tweet pointing out the poor communication, CI dropped the squad list. In the announcement, Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan was quoted talking about the importance of the week. One line in particular stood out.

“Many of the players in the Emerald Challenge are also pushing for selection in the upcoming T20I series against England.”

Come again?

According to Cricket Europe, the squad to play England has already been picked, albeit it won’t be announced until after the Emerald games. Upon further digging, the squad has been picked barring the monitoring of a few injuries. Mark Adair and Josh Little won’t play this week and look to be out for England. Curtis Campher was pulled from his last Essex game due to injury and he won’t feature in Stormont. Cade Carmichael picked up a head injury playing club cricket over the weekend and his participation must be called into question.

At best, Malan is pointing to players already in the 14/15 man squad pushing for spots in the XI. At worst, he is being liberal with the truth. Even if there are players who can force their way into the picture due to injuries elsewhere, the squad has by and large been picked. Did anyone reading this line before pressing publish think, ‘Hang on Heinrich…’

Fans despise having the wool pulled over their eyes. Even if this wasn’t the intention, it’s someone’s job to make sure that perception is avoided wherever possible.

The final detail omitted from the belated CI announcement was on streaming. There won’t be any broadcast. “Not this time” was the word from a CI spokesman when asked. By the sounds of it, we won’t have the immovable camera on top of the sight screen which did the job - albeit an inadequate one - during the 50-over interpros.

Again, on the face of it none of this is really important. These are not high profile games. CI is so cash-strapped that the fact these games are happening at all, even without a stream, is somewhat of a miracle.

But there is also a point on culture.

In some ways, CI does a fantastic job with its public comms on a limited budget. The video profiles of clubs in the All-Ireland competitions were well produced and, crucially, well appreciated by those involved. Money has also been spent on social media marketing. I’ve received more targeted ads for Ireland tickets this summer than any other.

Yet every now and then, an example pops up which shows that there still isn’t a universal culture within CI which prioritises informing the public. Senior CI figures have been frustrated by this at times. It was a source of some of the criticism and tension at board level which ultimately culminated in Warren Deutrom’s resignation. Not that blame lies solely with one individual. An entire organisation has a role to play in culture.

No one within CI will publicly say that Deutrom’s departure offers a chance to reset the organisation in more ways than one. But it does. Not just on issues such as the Emerald Challenge. Did you know that Friday was Deutrom’s last day of work at Cricket Ireland? Do we know who, now that he is gone, is in control given an interim won’t be appointed until the next board meeting on September 10th? What about West, the head of Irish cricket in position for almost a full summer now yet he hasn’t given a public interview other than a five-over stint on CI’s own in-house stream?

The information vacuum remains.

There are those within the organisation who do want to engage fans. They recognise the importance of those whose desire to buy tickets, jerseys and TV subscriptions are crucial to the sport’s future. First these punters need to be persuaded of the merits of CI’s vision for the sport, if not its current validity as an entity.

There have been signs of more openness, of culture changing for the good. Clearly, though, if silence on the games billed as a replacement for CI’s flagship new tournament, or even strangely inaccurate statements from the men’s head coach are seen as acceptable, work remains to be done.