Ireland and Afghanistan granted Test status

kit-sports editor — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 13:34:46 +0000

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi and Ireland captain William Porterfield.

Become 11th and 12th full ICC members:

LONDON, Thursday: Ireland and Afghanistan have attained Test status after they were granted full membership by the International Cricket Council.

The ICC met for its annual conference in London on Thursday and confirmed Ireland and Afghanistan as full members after a unanimous vote.

Ireland have been playing as affiliate members since 1993 and have recorded famous victories over Pakistan, England and the West Indies in that time.

Now they will be able to play Test cricket against the world’s best, with Afghanistan also making the step up having only achieved affiliate membership in 2013.

The ICC confirmed the news on Thursday afternoon, posting on Twitter: “@ACBofficials and @Irelandcricket confirmed as Full Members after a unanimous vote at ICC Full Council meeting.

“Both will now be eligible to play Test cricket following a recommendation that their applications met newly approved member criteria.”

The move sees Ireland and Afghanistan take the total number of member countries to 12 and they are the first to be given Test status since Bangladesh in 2000.

Ireland international Gary Wilson welcomed the news by posting a statement on his own Twitter account.

“An historic day for Irish cricket,” he wrote.

“Years worth of work feels like it has been recognised. There are many people in the background that have made this happen. Current officials, players and management have been major cogs but let’s not forget the tireless volunteers who worked so many years to get us where we are.

“Men who played for free and managed for free. Good men no longer with us like John Wright and John Caldwell, no doubt there are others.

“As well as for us, this is for them. No doubt they would be as delighted as we are. Here’s to the beginning.”

Ireland’s newly appointed Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, offered his congratulations as the country now prepares to host Test cricket for the first time.

“I am delighted that Ireland will take its place among the Test playing nations,” he said.

“It’s great news for the game here and a fitting result for many years of hard work and campaigning by Cricket Ireland.

“Ireland has enjoyed some notable successes at International level in the shorter versions of the game. We can now look forward to some great days ahead as Ireland takes on the top Test cricket playing nations in the world.”

The Afghan Cricket Board posted its own message of gratitude.

“Massive thank you to everyone who has played their part in making the dream of Full Membership of ICC a reality,” it wrote on Twitter. – Telegraph

Lankans up against the Irish in two ODIs

kit-sports editor — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 01:01:47 +0000

The two-match ODI series against Ireland at Malahide, Dublin on Thursday and Saturday provides a perfect opportunity for Sri Lanka to get used to the white ball in these conditions after losing their three-Test match series against England.

It will help them clear their heads and concentrate on doing well out there in the middle with bat and ball. The visitors are a young team which has lost some stalwarts in the past two years and it has clearly affected them. However, there is some raw talent in this side which could spark to life any moment.

Ireland will miss the services of Leicestershire wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien who is injured and Stuart Thompson, who will miss both matches for personal reasons.

O’Brien is set to be out of action for four to six weeks after sustaining a grade-two tear of his left calf. O’Brien suffered his injury while batting against Warwickshire last week.

John Anderson and Max Sorensen have been called into the Ireland squad to replace them.

In Niall O’Brien’s absence Ireland will depend a lot on William Porterfield, Ed Joyce and Kevin O’Brien. These three players form the back-bone of the Irish cricket team. Joyce and Kevin O’Brien have been in particularly good form for their respective teams in the NatWest T20 Blast as well as the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Sri Lanka have dropped all-rounder Milinda Siriwardana for the ODIs. Kaushal Silva, Dilruwan Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella will also head back home along with Rangana Herath who has retired from the 50-over game.

Farveez Maharoof, Danushka Gunathilaka, Suraj Randiv, Seekkuge Prasanna and Upul Tharanga will join the side. Expect a lot of these players to feature against Ireland as they look to adjust to the prevailing conditions in this part of the world. Angelo Matthews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne will be the key players for the Lankans.

These two sides have faced off just twice in this format and Sri Lanka have won both fixtures quite comfortably. Sri Lanka have a very good record against the ICC’s associate members and will look to keep their status intact against the hosts.

Cricket Ireland chairman Ross McCullum said that though the fan build up to the Sri Lanka series had been positive, commercial success was not the biggest priority for the series, but rather getting an opportunity to improve Ireland’s ranking on the 12-team ODI table.

“Hopefully, we’ll get good weather, good cricket and we’ll have a good day. The support for Ireland has always been pretty positive and pretty good, so hopefully that won’t change,” said McCullum.

“I know there has been a lot of support from the Asian community in Dublin, so hopefully we’ll get a large crowd there. For us, it’s always good to play in front of a good crowd, because it certainly adds to the atmosphere and adds to Cricket Ireland’s coffers, no doubt.”

KitSports » William Porterfield

Ireland and Afghanistan granted Test status

Lankans up against the Irish in two ODIs