ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2019

673 Ireland in 2019 Ireland played just two Test matches in the period under review – a single game against Afghanistan on neutral territory in India in March 2019, and another against England at Lord’s in July. The match against Afghanistan followed a similar course to their debut Test at Malahide against Pakistan the previous May, with Ireland conceding a substantial first-innings lead, fighting back well in their second innings, taking an early wicket to raise hopes as their opponents chased a modest victory target, but eventually losing tamely. At Lord’s it was Ireland who took the initiative by bowling England out before lunch on the first day, but they could not maintain this impressive form and – in conditions wholly favourable to England’s bowlers – they succumbed for an embarrassing 38 all out in their second innings and lost by 143 runs. This was the seventh lowest total in Tests, and the lowest since New Zealand’s infamous 26 against England in 1954/55. If Ireland are to make more of a mark on the Test scene, there is an urgent need both for the side to play more than just the occasional one-off match, and for new players to come forward to press their case for inclusion in the national side. The opportunities for the former are not helped by Ireland’s exclusion from the World Test Championship; while the scope for the latter continues to be hampered by the very limited first-class, let alone representative, cricket available to Ireland’s top players. The prospects for the future are not helped by the fact that from 2020, promising Irish cricketers will have to register as overseas players if they wish to develop their skills in the English County Championship; but it is far from certain that counties looking for overseas talent will be prepared to take a chance on a relatively unproven Irish cricketer rather than a bigger name from elsewhere.  Throughout 2018/19 and 2019, the full national side played no first-class cricket apart from the two Test matches, and the only representative opportunities for promising players came in two first-class games played by Ireland Wolves (the national ‘A’ team) against Sri Lanka A in January 2019. The first was lost by ten wickets, while the second was drawn. At least the Wolves would have taken some encouragement from being able to enforce the follow-on in the second game.  With so little representative cricket for Ireland’s leading players, it might have been hoped that the three-team domestic tournament in the summer of 2019 would have provided at least some opportunities for player development; but the weather gods had other ideas. Rain followed the tournament around, and not one of the six games produced a definite result. Indeed, of the 18 scheduled playing days, seven were lost altogether, and of the five matches that were able to start only one reached even its third innings. So the championship was decided on bonus points, with Dublin-based Leinster Lightning regaining the title that they had lost in 2018 to North West Warriors. Figures of run-scoring and wicket-taking in such an abbreviated season are of little meaning, but for the record the honours in both departments were taken by Leinster’s Simi Singh, with 204 runs at 102.00 and 13 wickets at 8.69. (KSW)  Inter-Provincial Championship 2019: Final table P W L D A BatBP BowBP Pts 16 0 3 3 1 Leinster Lighting 4 0 0 4 0 7 12 31 2 Northern Knights 4 0 0 3 1 5 12 29 3 North West Warriors 4 0 0 3 1 6 6 24 Abandoned match: North West v Northern, Magheramason, Bready, 27, 28, 29 August.