Ireland has not played a Test match in more than two years.
Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie has lamented the lack of Test cricket for the fledgling full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), saying being a full ICC member just feels like a name at the moment, as they haven’t played a Test match in the last two-and-a-half years.
The newest Test nations Ireland and Afghanistan alongside Zimbabwe are not part of the first two editions of the World Test Championship based on their respective rankings.
Ireland's progress has been slow since they became full members of the ICC in 2017, and Balbirnie has identified a number of factors that have hampered their progress in the last four years while revealing the current state of the game in the country.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Balbirnie stated: “We're a Test member or a Full Member, but at the moment it only really feels like a name. Nothing's really showing for that. We've had our days out at Lord's and Malahide but apart from that, all I can see is a name. It'll be three years in the summer that we haven't played a Test match.”
While Ireland continues to struggle for game-time, funding, and facilities for the professional game, Balbirnie is frustrated that Ireland's status as a Full Member of the ICC means that, after a two-year grace period, their players no longer qualify as local players on the County Cricket scene.
The Irish skipper continued, “In my opinion, that was hugely detrimental to some of the young cricketers here. It's massively disappointing, watching all of these brilliant Test series around the world - the Ashes particularly, staying up all night to watch such a historic series. I go back to that Lord's Test because it was the highlight of a career. For the young guys coming through to maybe not have that experience again, that's hugely disappointing.”
Presently, the Ireland team is in Florida to play two T20Is and three ODIs against the USA, becoming the first Full Member to play against the USA on American soil in the process.
They will then fly to Jamaica on New Year's Eve for three Super League ODIs and a one-off T20I against West Indies.
Balbirnie signed off by saying, “We were really disappointed about the T20 World Cup and this is just a chance to go out and try to play with a bit of freedom and give the guys confidence to go out and express themselves. It's easy to say that but we've all got to go out and do it once we get over that line. I've seen a lot of good stuff in the period we have had here.”
(With ANI Inputs)