The decision by the Irish Cricket Union Executive Committee to play this year’s Nat West fixture against Durham in Dublin highlights once again the difficulty in trying to reconcile national with regional interest.
The news that the other major fixture, a friendly against Middlesex, will also be played in Dublin, did not go down well with northern fans who flocked to Downpatrick last year to see the West Indies and give Irish cricket its greatest payday. However it is the Downpatrick Club which will feel the disappointment most deeply. After ten years of striving to put their facilities at the top of Irish cricket, it will seem strange to be told that Ireland’s only competitive match must go to Clontarf because the Strangford Road wicket is too good! How ironic that this progressive northern club should be the victim of its own success. But is the issue solely about cricket?
Cricket Argument Wins Debate
The allocation of grounds for international matches has for some time been a contentious issue in the Irish Cricket Union. The problem came to a head last year when both the strong Leinster and Northern Cricket Unions vied to stage the West Indies match and it took a lot of soul-searching to reach an acceptable compromise. As a result Australia will go to Dublin in 1993 and last season’s Nat West fixture against Middlesex had to go to Castle Avenue. Ireland’s spirited performance in that game has convinced some that the Clontarf wicket best suits the Irish cause, being somewhat slower and lower than that of Downpatrick. While the Leinster Cricket Union and the Munster Cricket Union delegates would have opted for Dublin in any case, as that has been their policy for many years, the cricket lobby gave their argument a weighted advantage especially since its strongest advocates emerged from north of the border. Former Irish President Gavin Craig and captain Stephen Warke with selectors Dermott Monteith and John Elder all supported Castle Avenue because they felt the wicket suited the Irish players better and that the fast true Downpatrick wicket was more akin to county wickets. With such a strong lobby from the playing side, the northern delegates were left powerless in their attempt to secure the match north of the border. But a further irony to the situation was later exposed, when Middlesex bowler Simon Hughes listed Clontarf as one of the worst wickets he had played on during 1991!
Therefore at what cost to Ireland is the decision to risk further criticism from megastars Ian Botham, Dean Jones, Paul Parker and Co?
