Tour of Afghanistan in India 2019

Rikand

Ireland praying for rain ?

Tweeter

14 overs since the last boundary. Painful stuff altogether

KevIRL

Dockrell out

BarryD2

Tweeter wrote: »

14 overs since the last boundary. Painful stuff altogether

Obviously a difficult wicket to bat on - nobody has looked comfortable. In fairness, only need 1s and 2s and the odd boundary. But going down the tubes now. Dare say KOB will get frustrated soon and hole out!

wicorthered

riffmongous wrote: »

The issue was though that test cricket is so firmly tied to membership status as a top country and the extra money and rights that comes with it.. of course the ICC still screwed us on that in the end by limiting the world cup to 10 teams

I always felt CI had a bit of snobbery around chasing the test dream. I might be wrong but I thought the move wasn't necessarily about money it was more the prestige of test cricket.


Even if that wasn't the case I firmly believe CI chose the wrong option. T20 was kicking off big time, the IPL, Big bash were changing cricket, like it or loathe it. Players were making big money quickly, they were obviously going to start abandoning test cricket. We should have jumped in head first into T20. Our small player pool meant we couldn't be competitive in tests and we'd continue to be plucky underdogs in the 50 over stuff. T20 could have been different.


The shorter format means a couple of individual players could make a much bigger difference. If we'd started investing 5/6 years ago in developing T20 players we could be a decent side today, going to world cups, beating the bigger boys. This in turn raises the games profile, attracts more fans, more start playing and cricket grows. A natural follow up would have been test status at a time we had a big enough base to be somewhat competitive.


We weren't patient enough. We choose the most difficult and less financially viable path. Irish cricket has stagnated as a result. An associate trying for test status can't be seen losing to other associates. A consequence was a management team terrified of blooding young players. They always went tried and tested. The result of that now is 4 of the same top 6 we've had for 10 years. A team all going over the hill together with no replacements to step in.


I reckon Rankin and Murtagh will call it a day at the end of the summer. What happens then. We havem't given any replacement a proper run in the team.

Tweeter

BarryD2 wrote: »

Obviously a difficult wicket to bat on - nobody has looked comfortable. In fairness, only need 1s and 2s and the odd boundary. But going down the tubes now. Dare say KOB will get frustrated soon and hole out!

It's clearly not a flat track, however 3 Afghans got half centuries.
It's really a sign of where we now are as a cricket nation, and it really pains me to say that.
We'll be lucky to get 150

KevIRL

Poynter out and the game is done

KevIRL

92/6 30

BarryD2

KevIRL wrote: »

Poynter out and the game is done

As long as KOB is there, I guess there's hope. But scratchy kind of innings from him, keeping the ball down and that's about it.

Rikand

KOb gone

KevIRL

Rikand wrote: »

KOb gone

And mcbrine before him then murtagh

KevIRL

Alam on a hat trick here

Tweeter

Revised guess, we'll be lucky to get 115.

We're regressing badly as a Cricket nation the past couple of years.
Afghanistan won't have to wait long for their first test win

KevIRL

Tweeter wrote: »

Revised guess, we'll be lucky to get 115.

We're regressing badly as a Cricket nation the past couple of years.
Afghanistan won't have to wait long for their first test win

Won't get past 100

BarryD2

Still, nice to see a quick bowler rattling the timbers!

KevIRL

Rankin prevents the hat trick

KevIRL

Got the hundred anyway

wicorthered

We've turned into cannon fodder for Afghanistan. We really need to revise how often we play them.



Having them at 81/6 to being hammered is unforgivable!

KevIRL

Tweeter wrote: »

Revised guess, we'll be lucky to get 115.

We're regressing badly as a Cricket nation the past couple of years.
Afghanistan won't have to wait long for their first test win

Close. 114 all out

BarryD2

wicorthered wrote: »

We've turned into cannon fodder for Afghanistan. We really need to revise how often we play them. Having them at 81/6 to being hammered is unforgivable!

Chance of getting a 2/2 draw on Sunday, so reckon we'll see the same team.

That was kinda tortuous batting - when Porterfield knocked off 3 consecutive boundaries, it looked reasonable but he overplayed his hand next ball - an basically that set the tone. Odd to see KOB at the crease for so long and not a single boundary.

riffmongous

Anyone know what happened to cricketeurope? I just had a look there and it seems to be only focused on Ireland now

wicorthered

riffmongous wrote: »

Anyone know what happened to cricketeurope? I just had a look there and it seems to be only focused on Ireland now

There's still a small section on other associate. They've cut back on content due to budgets

riffmongous

wicorthered wrote: »

https://www.cricketeurope.com/CRICKETEUROPE/index.shtml


It's still there.

Now it's just Ireland and Worldwide though, it used to show the Scottish and Dutch on the main page too

HonalD

wicorthered wrote: »

I always felt CI had a bit of snobbery around chasing the test dream. I might be wrong but I thought the move wasn't necessarily about money it was more the prestige of test cricket.


Even if that wasn't the case I firmly believe CI chose the wrong option. T20 was kicking off big time, the IPL, Big bash were changing cricket, like it or loathe it. Players were making big money quickly, they were obviously going to start abandoning test cricket. We should have jumped in head first into T20. Our small player pool meant we couldn't be competitive in tests and we'd continue to be plucky underdogs in the 50 over stuff. T20 could have been different.


The shorter format means a couple of individual players could make a much bigger difference. If we'd started investing 5/6 years ago in developing T20 players we could be a decent side today, going to world cups, beating the bigger boys. This in turn raises the games profile, attracts more fans, more start playing and cricket grows. A natural follow up would have been test status at a time we had a big enough base to be somewhat competitive.


We weren't patient enough. We choose the most difficult and less financially viable path. Irish cricket has stagnated as a result. An associate trying for test status can't be seen losing to other associates. A consequence was a management team terrified of blooding young players. They always went tried and tested. The result of that now is 4 of the same top 6 we've had for 10 years. A team all going over the hill together with no replacements to step in.


I reckon Rankin and Murtagh will call it a day at the end of the summer. What happens then. We havem't given any replacement a proper run in the team.

I’m not really following you on this. We sit in the top tier now and have a greater input into world cricket with better access to funding and facilities. Are you saying we’d be better off as an Associate nation still?

The Lions Tour of Sri Lanka was a success in giving younger players competitive match practice, as an associate nation we couldn’t have played that.

Not saying I’m entirely happy with selection decisions but we’ve a steep learning curve, both on and off the pitch, with much improvement needed.

wicorthered

HonalD wrote: »

I’m not really following you on this. We sit in the top tier now and have a greater input into world cricket with better access to funding and facilities. Are you saying we’d be better off as an Associate nation still?

The Lions Tour of Sri Lanka was a success in giving younger players competitive match practice, as an associate nation we couldn’t have played that.

Not saying I’m entirely happy with selection decisions but we’ve a steep learning curve, both on and off the pitch, with much improvement needed.

I'm saying we should have been more patient. We chased test cricket to the detriment of other formats, at a time test cricket was declining. I think this is the reason we have fallen away so badly. The fear of losing meant young players were never blooded, leaving us a squad passed it's best with no youngsters coming through.



And I do feel the prestige of playing test cricket meant more than the money to CI. There will be a lot of pomp and Bulls$$$ around the Lords Test. All the while we've fallen behind Scotland in T20 and ODI terms. I think having a competitive T20 and ODI team would bring in just as much investment as a test nation playing 2 tests a year, and probably getting hammered in both.

HonalD

wicorthered wrote: »

I'm saying we should have been more patient. We chased test cricket to the detriment of other formats, at a time test cricket was declining. I think this is the reason we have fallen away so badly. The fear of losing meant young players were never blooded, leaving us a squad passed it's best with no youngsters coming through.



And I do feel the prestige of playing test cricket meant more than the money to CI. There will be a lot of pomp and Bulls$$$ around the Lords Test. All the while we've fallen behind Scotland in T20 and ODI terms. I think having a competitive T20 and ODI team would bring in just as much investment as a test nation playing 2 tests a year, and probably getting hammered in both.

We looked for and received full membership. With that came test match cricket. But there’s a huge amount of other benefits to full membership and I can’t see any reason to forsake them to remain an associate team.

We’re only playing a couple of test matches a year compared to multiple shorter form games - we’ve 23 matches against full members in 2019, two are test matches. We’ve played 3 associates already and will be playing other warm up games for the T20 World Cup Qualifiers before the tournament itself in Oct. As an associate nation, we were only getting crumbs.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a significant improvement in terms of quality game time imo.

KevIRL

Ireland win toss and will bowl

KevIRL

No zazai opening for Afghanistan today but shazad smashes the very first delivery for 6 anyway

Edit - murtagh gets him with the fourth ball!

KevIRL

20/1 after 5

KevIRL

34/1 10

KevIRL

Keeping the run rate tight. Could do with some wickets though of course

KevIRL

Mcbrine gets ahmadi! He was on 24 and starting to look set.

KevIRL

Dockrell gets shah. Next ball after being hit for 6

KevIRL

Shinwari out first ball and Dockrell on a hat trick

KevIRL

Almost a hat trick. Dockrell v close.

50/4 after 15. Nabi in now. Critical wicket

KevIRL

16th over a maiden. Second one of the innings

BarryD2

Thought with catches going down earlier, just another of those days. Come back into it well. Can we keep pressure on now???

KevIRL

65/4 20

KevIRL

77/4 25

KevIRL

Ten runs in 26th over

KevIRL

98/4 30

This partnership now at 48

KevIRL

Murtagh back in the attack and his first over goes for 15

gavinoontheweb

That dropped catch by Balbirnie could be the killer, I'm sick of watching Nabi and Ashgar bat. Those 2 stalwarts always resurrect an innings with sensible batting

KevIRL

Dockrell maiden


121/4 35

KevIRL

Singh gets nabi 131/5 37

KevIRL

140/5 after 40

Asghar afgham dropped again tho

KevIRL

Zadhran out.

KevIRL

Kahn in, he can be very dangerous with the bat

KevIRL

Asghar Afghan 50. Dropped at least three times tho

KevIRL

160/6 45

Will be disappointing if they get over 200 from here