Ireland's team has been playing the cricket matches since 1792 when the Military and the Gentlemen of the nation took on each other in the Phoenix Park. Their gameplay still thrives as one of the oldest established cricket clubs.
By the mid 1850s, the match extended to the point where this was the largest and popular sport in the nation. Towards the end of the century, Ireland saw the downfall of the game due to being the victim of politics and class issues as the emergence of Gaelic games.
The game continued to be played in the North side of the country and in the heartlands of Northern & Central Dublin.
In this writeup, you’ll learn about the rise of Irish cricket and Ireland cricket news today.
Irish Cricket Union
With the formation of the Irish Cricket Union in 1923, the first semblances of the organization came into existence. It briefed the organization of the national squad, basically scheduling the fixtures against the Scots and the English MCC, with occasional visits by Test teams and English Counties.
An official competitive fixture at national level started in the Irish in 1980 that led to the entry in English Gillette Cup but it was tedious for the squad to learn the consistency and credibility as it took 24 years to win a match in the competition. It encompassed 3 huge disappointments in the World Cup between 1994 & 2001. The side ended the World Cup 2007 edition as the best associate and 10th in the world is evident to explain the next success. We have entailed more such Ireland cricket news today for you.
During the coaching session, the side got the mixed results of Mike Hendrick and Ken Rutherford, ICU recruiter and former Eastern Province Coach, Adrian Birrell to captain the team.
This squad made huge strides by taking up prestigious trophies along the way - 10 wicket victory over Zimbabwe in 2003, great Surrey in 2004 in C & G Trophy, and West Indies’ Brian Lara in the same year. Finally Ireland got the coveted qualification for the World Cup edition in 207, ending as the runner ups to Scotland in 2005 in the ICC Trophy which was conducted on the homeground at 25 venues North & South of the border.
Both on & off pitch, Ireland took their strides forward that were strengthened by the appointment of a chief executive in 2003 who was Union’s first ever professional administrator.
In 2007, Irish cricket got big breakthrough Wins in the Caribbean World Cup against Bangladesh and Pakistan, including a tie against Zimbabwe on the biggest stage of all the unprecedented for the associate member country. This got them huge attention at a global level, providing more opportunities for the team.
With the end of the event, Ireland was ranked at 10th position in the world, the first time ever that an associate outshined a test playing country. In the same year, Ireland bagged the ICC Intercontinental Cup Trophy (the 4-day competition for the top Associates) for the second year in succession, confirming Ireland as the greatest country under the Test level in both forms of the game.
After the World Cup, the former West Indies player, Phil Simmons took over the role of the coach from Adrian Birell. India and South Africa, both the nations visited Belfast and played with Ireland while also participating in a series of ODIs.
In 2008, William Porterfield took the captaincy from Trent Johnston being captaining Ireland at every level from U13 age group. He led Ireland and the side secured huge success over Namibia in the 2008 edition that was their 3rd consecutive International Cup title.
Ireland hosted the Division One of the European Championships in July 2009 and got their 3rd European title, winning all the matches that included the decisive encounter against Scotland by 7 wickets. For Ireland cricket news today and of upcoming matches, stay with us.
In early August, Ireland hosted 5 other associate nations at the ICC World T20 Qualifier in Belfast. The squad made their T20 international debut. The team progressed to the knock-out round of the tournament in which they defeated Kenya in the semi-finals to get a spot in the final against the Netherlands.
The final match was rained off and the teams shared their trophy in the tournament. After defeating Bangladesh, Ireland qualified for the ICC World T20 for Super 8s.
The 2011 edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup was conducted between February and March which was hosted by Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka. Though Ireland didn’t get into the first round, they got a historic win against England by 2 wickets on March 2 in 2011 with Kevin O’Brien smashing the fastest World CCup century off 50 balls. It was a great run chase of 329 in 49.1 overs in World Cup history. Taoiseach-in-waiting Enda Kenny, one of the high-profile figures congratulated the side, saying, ``Their supreme effort will lift the spirits of every single Irish person, no matter where they are in the world.’
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