| Here goes with a few answers:
Whether or not cricket is a growth sport or not is a tricky one; there is more media coverage now but no more players than say 20 years ago. There is also a much better youth structure in place at the top level - hence the better ones attract attention from the counties.
It is what the media refer to as medium, below football, rugby and the Gaelic sports but above tennis and darts! It is the No1 summer sport.
It is mainly played around Belfast, L'Derry (NI) and Dublin (RoI). There are also a handful of clubs in Cork. In Belfast (Northern Cricket Union, NCU) there are about 40 clubs with on average 3 teams each, in Derry (North-West Cricket Union, NWCU) there are about 25 clubs with on average 2 teams each while in Dublin (Leinster Cricket Union, LCU) there are about 20 clubs with on average 4 teams each. The Irish Cricket Union (ICU) estimate that around 20000 people are involved in the game one way or another. There is no cricket in the west - that is strong gaelic country!
The next one is a good one; without getting too political, it would be fair to say that cricketers in the north support England while cricketers in the south support whoever England are playing against!
The Irish teams results have improved in the last 4/5 years on the strength of a number of southern hemisphere players. The Celtic Lion was strong in the 90's and a lot of people came from Aus and SA to Dublin to work. Some good players, some average. The Ireland team currently has 2 Aussies, 1 SA and 1 Pakistani all qualified through residency. For most of the season this just makes up for those who are with counties but hopefully with them all together for the ICC trophy it will be the key. I know Mason was asked but turned it down, I wonder if they qualify will he be asked again??
It is a touchy subject at the minute but the coach is doing pretty well. He said he would only bring people in if he thought they had plenty to offer and in fairness there are other guys who are only slightly better than the locals who he has not used. Personally, and I mean personally, as long as there is a decent balance then if the locals are good enough they must prove it.
Ireland have been invited to compete in the new C&G in 2006 which will guarantee them 9 matches with the counties per season this can only help. The ICC Inter- Continental Cup is also good because it is 3-day, something different and widely acknowledged as helping to improve technique. We have a stable diet of 50 over cricket in all our competitions at the minute.
A lot is resting on qualification, the finance is vital to contracting the players and in theory turning pro roll on the ICC Trophy!  |