Monday February 21, 2011

A couple of weeks ago a person whom I know and whose opinions I respect posted on the popular CricketEurope Ireland forum about the issue of player loyalty.

If you move clubs you are not loyal. Is this a fair statement? The cricket community is very tightly knit and it is hard for clubs to see their best (young) players move on. My own club has benefited from player movements in the past but also lost a couple of our better players this winter.

It is often hard for players to defend themselves on a public forum where a significant proportion of the posts come from uninformed individuals or people who are just trying to stir up trouble between clubs, provinces, individuals or whoever.

The underage system that cricket Ireland has in place is working - Andrew White, the O’Briens, Morgan, Porterfield, Wilson, Rankin, Dockrell, Stirling etc are all evidence of this.

Club cricket in Ireland is also getting stronger. There are more paid players and the overall standards have improved. Division 1 is where the big guns play their cricket. However, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that club cricket is “working”; by working I mean producing players who are good enough to play for Ireland.

Club cricket doesn’t produce international cricketers. The underage systems do. Eoin Morgan had a modest record at club level when he got picked for Ireland. William Porterfield has still never scored a hundred at club 1st XI level in Ireland or England. Paul Stirling probably has a higher ODI average then club average.

When I hear guys telling me that “their Leinster coach” or “high profile player X” or somebody else is in their ear about moving club because it is a necessary step if they want to fulfil their ambition of playing for Ireland it really annoys me. Why is this the case? Should youngsters have to move clubs (often against their will) because of the opinion of one or two or three influential individuals?

The fact is that a lot of Irelands best young players play a handful of club matches every season due to representative fixtures. Where they play their club cricket is not THAT important.

My proposed solution (and the opinion of the players on the current national team judging by their player lines) is that interpro’s should be reintroduced. This gives “the best of the rest” a chance to showcase their skills at a level higher then club level. At the moment the gap between club and country is too big. It would also allow the younger guys stay with their home clubs if they want to and not feel they are putting their future ambitions of playing representative cricket in jeopardy by doing so.

You can follow John on twitter @thehawkster44