England's Irish Problem

England are due in Ireland for a six match series in early September – three T20s and three Women’s Championship ODIs. It should be a series that they, and their supporters, are looking forward to, but instead it is just causing major headaches.

The problem is that England are due to play the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in early October and the prospect of spending a fortnight in Ireland prior to the tournament does not appeal to the England management. It seems therefore that none of the 15 players selected for the T20 World Cup squad will make the trip to Ireland. Instead they are due in Abu Dhabi for a pre-tournament acclimatisation training camp in mid-September. It means that none of them will play a game of T20 cricket after the Hundred Final on 18^th August (I know that is technically not a T20 either), before heading into the T20 World Cup fixtures. England play their first World Cup game, against South Africa, on 3^rd October.

So not ideal scheduling from England’s perspective, but there is the additional headache of just who will represent England in Ireland for that series, and the potential repercussions on the domestic game.

Presumably the England contracted players who are not selected for the T20 World Cup will be on the plane to Belfast – eg Beaumont, Cross, Filer, Lamb, Wong (Farrant & Gaur are injured). If not why are they contracted? But who will make up the bulk of the squad, and will all those invited to join the squad want to play? The problem is that the concluding league stage fixtures of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, and the semi-finals themselves, clash with the tour. As a player if you choose to go to Ireland, you will probably miss the last two rounds of the RHF on 4^th and 7^th September and the semi-finals on 14^th September. Whilst an opportunistic England cap for some might be very appealing, loyalty to their regional set-up at the end of a 14 match 50 over season might seem more important.

If England were to select the ten “next best players" in England for the tour, then some of the major contenders for RHF Trophy honours could suffer very badly, whoever those players actually are (feel free to make your own selections and see the impact on the teams). The top four teams in the RHF league standings at the moment, with four rounds of fixtures to go, are Vipers, Diamonds, Stars and Sunrisers, but the other four teams are not out of contention for a semi-final spot, if they can turn their season’s round. Little is likely to change before the Ireland squad is actually selected, with only two more sets of RHF fixtures due to be played in late August/early September. Removing the “top” 30 players (including the England World Cup players) out of a pool of approximately 120 players from the RHF Trophy as it reaches its conclusion seems disingenuous at best.

Ultimately it will be for the non-contracted players invited to join the squad to decide if they want to make the trip. It will be a tough decision, but one which, either way, the ECB and the Regions, and their supporters, will have to respect. Quite what the Irish will make of all this is anybody’s guess?

Martin Davies

20/VI/24