Ford expecting his Ireland veterans to scrap in Test debut
IN Dublin’s old Blue Coat School, it was a morning for dark green tops as the first Irish Test team was revealed on Friday. Head coach Graham Ford, in conjunction with the selectors, flourished few wild cards in the 14-strong squad to face Pakistan in Malahide on May 11-15 although George Dockrell’s omission was a talking point.
‘The key to selection,’ stressed the 57-year-old South African was ‘current form and the likely conditions’ which Ireland will face next week, hence the pick of a sole spinner, Andy McBrine.
Forde was flanked in The Law Library in Blackhall Place by four players, Ed Joyce, Andrew Balbirnie, Tyrone Kane and Kevin O’Brien.
A youthful 39, batsman Joyce made his Irish debut 21 years ago while all-rounder O’Brien, 34, has played a staggering 307 times for Ireland in various forms of cricket since 2006.
Both are keen on sampling the Test match demands to crown career CVs – Joyce played 17 times for England at one-day level and was named in a Test squad but never played.
Of the 14, only bowler Boyd Rankin has sampled the ultimate demand of the five-day game so Ireland face a journey into the unknown against Pakistan.
The tall Bready bowler’s one Test for England was on an Ashes tour of Australia. The game at Sydney, in January 2014, was the fifth defeat in a 5-0 series whitewash for Alastair Cook’s team. Rankin managed just the one wicket in 20 very nervy overs. His two innings with the bat yielded just 13 runs. That said, Rankin is in arguably his best form across his two spells with Ireland and will be his captain William Porterfield’s most potent weapon with the ball against the tourists over the historic encounter at the scenic ground.
Test matches are infinitely different to the pell-mell of oneday cricket as New Zealand can confirm. It took the Kiwis 26 years before they won a Test match. The most recent entrants to the long form of the game, Bangladesh, were also fodder for the bigger nations for many years.
So what message can Ireland send out to the cricketing world next week?
‘If we can disrupt the opposition, get into a scrap and show that the players are up for it, that it’s a real contest, I’d be over the moon with that,’ said Ford, who won his first Test match as coach with Sri Lanka against England.
‘Pressure comes with this occasion but having seen Ireland pull off some amazing results, Irish players seem to thrive on pressure,’ he observed. ‘Sometimes it brings out the best in you, sometimes it destroys. The key is to perform and to make progress. We’re aware of where we are. In a couple of years’ time, we want to be a nation that’s respected by the leading nations as a cricketing nation that can mix it with the best consistently. That’s the challenge.’
Another issue for Ford will be replacing key players who can’t soldier on for ever. Apart from Joyce (39), Niall O’Brien and Tim Murtagh turn 37 this year, while pace bowler Rankin is almost 34.
‘In time, some players will be calling time on their careers and we have to make sure there is real quality to fill their boots,’ said Ford. ‘How are we going to progress and be recognised as really being one of the better sides in world cricket? That’s a challenge. What creates the extra challenge for us is that we have climate disadvantages, a small cricket playing population compared to Pakistan and facilities which need to be developed.’
The 14-strong Irish team includes uncapped bowler, Aussie-born Nathan Smith (22), while the vastly experienced Gary Wilson keeps his place despite lacking a long spell at the crease.
‘Over the years, Gary has scored runs against high quality opposition,’ said Ford.
This isn’t the worst time for Ireland to play Pakistan, whose Test form has slumped since they shared the number one ranking with England two years ago.
Successive series defeats to New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka have dropped them to seventh in the rankings of the 12 Test-playing nations, and their summer cause isn’t helped by the retirements of batting stalwarts Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq and the absence of their injured leg spinner Yasir Shah.
Coach Mickey Arthur, who has four uncapped batsmen in his youthful squad, is in the spotlight ahead of the visit to Ireland which precedes Tests against England at Lord’s and Headingley.
‘We are a young team and we need to get our Test team right,’ he said. ‘We are trying to resurrect our Test side, we feel we’ve got our whiteball cricket where we need it right now, so we are really excited about this series, seeing these young guys come out and perform.’
The Pakistan squad includes ace bowler Mohammad Amir, who has been rehabilitated into the Test side following a five-year suspension for spot-fixing during Pakistan’s tour of England in 2010.
Ireland (v Pakistan, Malahide, May 11-15): W Porterfield (captain), A Balbirnie, E Joyce, T Kane, A McBrine, T Murtagh, K O’Brien, N O’Brien, B Rankin, N Smith, P Stirling, J Shannon, S Thompson, G Wilson.