Why so many South Africans?

Ireland should never turn its nose up at foreigners but investment in pathways at home is badly needed

Jordan Neill debuted for Ireland in the recent series against the West Indies. 📸: Barry Chambers

Four players debuted for Ireland during the recent West Indies series. It’s been a long time since that many new faces arrived all at once, necessity the order of the day after a raft of injuries.

All four - Liam McCarthy, Tom Mayes, Cade Carmichael and Jordan Neill - were born in South Africa. This after seven members of the 15-strong Wolves (second string) squad which travelled to the UAE were also born outside of Ireland.

These could just be acts of chance. Random instances where injuries, availability and various other factors conspired to create a foreign-born tinge. Or is this a trend, an acknowledgement that Irish cricket still has yet to fill the development gap left by county cricket’s absence? We can’t send our best and brightest over the water anymore, so we have to rely on those who come through the system of developed cricketing nations.

Which conclusion is the right one?

This is not a new debate. Thankfully, it is less toxic and nativist than what it was. I can remember when Curtis Campher - eligible through his Derry-born grandmother - first came to these shores in 2020. That Covid meant he went straight into the Ireland team to play England instead of first trialling a season of club cricket created a backlash. Campher’s performances eventually quietened things down.

This time around, with the four South African-born debutants, the chatter has been less toxic. But it’s still there. Speaking to The Irish Cricket podcast, Kevin O’Brien noted that Cricket Ireland was happy selecting South Africans (in the context of pointing out that a passport holder, Will Smale, is currently opening the batting for Glamorgan). Ger Siggins wrote a piece in the mail entitled “Reliance on imports puts spotlight on Irish system”. None of the commentary has veered into the ‘keep Ireland for the Irish’ nonsense, but eyebrows have nevertheless been raised.

Liam McCarthy moved to Railway Union from South Africa aged 19. 📸: Barry Chambers

Ireland is in no position to be turning its nose up at talent just because of different accents. Mercifully, few people take that argument these days. Publicly at least. But dismissing those who do veer towards nativism as outdated xenophobes removes required nuance from the situation. We shouldn’t be moaning about all the South Africans flying over. Instead, we should ask are these players being used to top up a solid Irish development system already in place, or are they a short-term stop gap used by a board struggling for the money required to develop its own talent?

Any analysis would suggest the answer is firmly the latter.

In 2017, Cricket Ireland spent €420,000 on its academy programme. Today, there isn’t even a formal academy. The programme made famous by its catchy title sponsor (the Shapoorji Pallonji Academy), hasn’t existed since Covid.

While the Shapoorji Pallonji group has fallen away, a Cricket Ireland Academy XI had until last year competed in the Future Series, the competition populated by Emerging provincial sides. This year, the team that was seen as vital for offering at least some game time for players, bridging the gap from Ireland U19s to senior interpros, no longer plays. It remains to be seen if those who may have played in this side get enough game time at their emerging or senior interpro sides instead.

With no academy team playing domestic games, it seems unlikely we will see repeats of trips overseas any time soon. In 2022, an Ireland Development XI played Gloucester 2nds, Graham Kennedy and David Delany both making hundreds in a red ball game.

At home, the Future Series as a whole has changed significantly. Cricket Ireland cut the white ball games, replacing them with a series of two-day red ball outings. According to CricketEurope, the provinces (which do receive funding from Cricket Ireland) have preserved the white ball games at their own expense.

At national level, Emerging Ireland has no games scheduled at present. This squad was largely envisioned as giving U23 players - again, those who fall between the cracks when moving from U19s to senior - much-needed game time. They toured the Caribbean in 2023 before hosting a reciprocal West Indies tour in 2024. The 2023 trip ultimately became more of a Wolves/Emerging hybrid, with older players on the fringes of the senior team taking the place of some of the Emerging talent. In the home series, the final red ball game - against a West Indies academy side - was used as a warm-up for the senior players ahead of their Test against Zimbabwe.

It’s not all bad news. Ireland U19s has produced a number of promising players in recent years. There has been talk of them playing Scotland and England at some point this summer. They toured the latter in 2024.

Below that age group, there have been cuts to national programmes. Underage international teams have been meeting less often to train during the winter, while Ireland U15s and U17s - across both girls and boys - play fewer games than before.

Comparisons to other countries are not always healthy, nor are they completely fair due to disparity in economic factors. Yet Zimbabwe recently beat Ireland 4-1 in an U19 series. Eight of their best players have been living and training in India, at the expense of Zimbabwe Cricket. Kian Blignaut, who played against Ireland U19s, made his Zimbabwe A debut against Scotland shortly after that series. There is a First Class structure (which Ireland infamously lacks) for players who succeed at these levels to progress into, a clear pathway which ultimately culminates in the senior international team. Ireland has a pathway, but it is not as clearly defined.

In the conversation on foreign-born players lining out for Ireland, this is ultimately where the scrutiny should go. Once again, the question facing Cricket Ireland focuses on cuts to the cricketing output despite overall income rising substantially, thanks to the ICC. It’s not just the senior international sides who find themselves playing less cricket.

Ireland as a country has many cricketing deficiencies, but for all of those, we still have a track record of developing players. Josh Little, Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker never played county cricket before playing for Ireland. They are arguably the three best players produced solely by this country. They were all members of the Shapoorji Allonji academy. Their generation played more Wolves cricket than today’s equivalent. Tector was named Northern Knights captain in 2021, leading an interpro side as a 21-year-old at a time when that competition appeared stronger than it is today.

Tom Mayes in action against the West Indies at Clontarf. 📸: Barry Chambers

Thankfully, the Wolves had a recent tour. The start to the interpro season has been promising. Carmichael, Mayes and McCarthy all impressed at interpro and Wolves levels before their international debuts. None looked out of place at the top level after progressing through the pathway. There are signs of growth.

Yet the fact remains that this generation of young Irish talent - both male and female - has less game time and contact time with qualified coaches than before.

There is of course a debate on the extent to which these players learned their craft at home or abroad. Cade Carmichael was coached in a South African academy run by Graham Ford before flying to Ireland at a young age. Jordan Neill similarly worked with Gary Kirsten, using his Irish cousins to qualify for Ireland at U19 level. Liam McCarthy first made the trip as a teenager. Clearly, our pathways did something for these players to get them to the top level - they didn’t step off the boat ready for international cricket.

But more can be done. So long as young players in Ireland, wherever they are born, are left without sufficient cricket, not enough talent will be supplied to the senior teams. Which will only make the presence of foreign-born players stand out. It builds a certain perception. One of reliance on short-term, cheap solutions instead of a longer term strategy. Even if some of those foreign solutions still came through parts of a pathway which desperately need investment.

Ireland needs players. Pure and simple. Where these players start their journey is irrelevant, but the country cannot in good faith rely on those coming from overseas. Some inevitably won’t stick around and that will irk people who see wasted time and effort. Negative labelling of the decisions of Murray Commins and Theo van Woerkom to return home discounts the nuances of their situation; van Woerkom for instance was not offered a contract which he saw as sufficient to support his new-born son. Yet the fact remains that those who fly here can always buy a return ticket.

The bigger sin would be that if current trends continue, Ireland risks sending a message - deliberate or otherwise - that native pathways are failing and won’t be fixed. That will turn people away.

Immigrant internationals often have heart-warming stories. One potential future Ireland international is an Afghan refugee. Few will begrudge him his success. But for all the individual qualities, the collective remains vital.

We need more players. To get them, Ireland must invest in its own development pathways. This will allow everyone who uses them to flourish, no matter where they are born.