Published: Feb 18, 2015, 01:17 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 18, 2015, 02:01 AM (IST)
Michael Holding reckons that if Ireland are not elevated to Test status soon, players representing Ireland will lose incentive and move on seeking greener pastures much like their predecessors Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin.
Ireland have had a history of losing top class players to England. Eoin Morgan is in fact the captain of the England One-Day International (ODI) team, the trend worries Michael Holding. BBC Sport quoted Holding saying, “Ireland need to be recognised now, It’s about time. Otherwise they’ll keep losing cricketers.”
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A window of opportunity has opened for Ireland, now that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has designed a structure where the winner of the Intercontinental cup, which is contested between the top ranked associate nations, will have the opportunity to topple the Test team languishing right at he bottom of the rankings, in a series of four-day matches and Test status the reward.
Noble though the intentions on the face of it, Holding believes that the process is painfully slow since it will be in practice only by 2017 and Test status would be granted in 2018, which may be far too long for some of the aging icons of Irish Cricket at the twilight of their careers.
“If they (Ireland) continue to linger around the lower regions of world cricket they’ll continue to lose good cricketers. Morgan left Ireland to play for England because he saw brighter prospects. England are a Test playing nation and are a world-renowned team.”
Shedding light on West Indies’ loss to Ireland in the group B encounter in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, holding added that the victory may have sealed a quarter-final berth for the Irish,
“I should certainly think (they’ll qualify). I think they’ll beat Zimbabwe. They have an outstanding chance of going on to the quarter-finals.”
