Irish old-timers thrown in at the deep end for Test debut
Latest nation to play at top level face Pakistan, the best prepared of all when they entered the fray in 1950s
It is an irony, which was certainly not intended by the International Cricket Council when it upgraded Ireland to Test status, that their inaugural Test – starting at Malahide in Dublin on Friday – will be against Pakistan. Of all the 12 countries that have been awarded Test status since Australia and England played the first Test in 1877, Pakistan have been the best prepared. Back in the 1950s when Test status meant so much to the new country, Pakistan won a Test match in the first series they played against every country. They prepared by sending the Pakistan Eaglets to England every summer from 1952 until 1959 and by being ahead of their time in organising training camps.
Since then, the countries awarded Test status have been ill-prepared for their inaugural match as their results showed immediately they were thrown in at the deep end, and the currency of Test cricket has been reduced. Perhaps it was inevitable that Sri Lanka would struggle to adjust in the 1980s because of the civil war that raged, but the amazing standard of school cricket in Colombo – the world’s best – was always going to be a strong basis on which to build a Test side.
The promotion of Zimbabwe came as a surprise – especially to them. Like Ireland five and 10 years ago, Zimbabwe had made an impact as giant-slayers in one-day cricket, but those players had passed their peak by
Afghanistan were promoted to Test status at the same time as Ireland and will become the 12th Test-playing country when they meet India in June; and like every other country since Pakistan, they have not been adequately prepared for promotion. Most of all, as a preliminary, the potential Test teams of Afghanistan and Ireland needed to tour several Test-playing countries and gain the experience of four-day matches there. So, too, their ‘A’ teams, otherwise they will not have any depth of reserve.
Such is the newfound enthusiasm for cricket in Afghanistan, where not a game was played 20 years ago, that their growth potential is enormous. Role models, such as their leg-spinner Rashid Khan, No1 in the ICC T20 rankings, have lit up the pathway from rags to riches.
Ireland’s experience of Test cricket is limited to the one match at Sydney that Boyd Rankin had in England’s 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia, when he was, by his own admission, so nervous that he twice went off in mid-over with cramp. Rankin and Tim Murtagh form a challenging opening pair, but Rankin is 33 and Murtagh 36, while Ireland’s best batsman, Ed Joyce, who played 17 ODIs for England, turns 40 in September.
If Ireland’s players this week err on the side of old, Pakistan’s err on the side of young. Only Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq have scored Test centuries, apart from their doughty wicketkeeper/batsman/captain, Sarfraz Ahmed. Sarfraz has made sure that the legacy of his predecessor Misbah-ul-Haq, who is considered to have cleansed the stables after the spot-fixing scandal of 2010, has not been squandered.
So, it might not be a high-scoring game which ensues after the umpire calls play on Friday and Ireland become the 11th Test-playing country; and it will be interesting to see how many of their players are still around for their second Test match, which has still to be arranged. But the opportunity is there for someone to seize the occasion and make his name internationally renowned, to live up to the highest traditions of Irish sport and justify the ICC’s decision immediately. Stranger things have happened, if not in the unrelenting world of Test cricket.