Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[pakhitheboss]

I don't know. IMO, their quality went down after 2019. Still they are unable to replace their players who retired recently, such as Kevin O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, William Porterfield and Tim Murtagh. But now there is hope for them. The fund allocation from the ICC has been increased by more than 3 times. Cricket Ireland can use at least part of these funds to improve the quality of domestic cricket and to construct new infrastructural facilities such as stadiums and training centers. At this point, they may be the strongest tier-2 test team. Don't think that Zimbabwe are above them.  

Infrastructure is a big concern! They do not have proper grounds and stadium for cricket. Domestic cricket needs to be improved that is for sure. They have talents and all they need to do is provide them with a good infrastructure. Without it you cannot nurture those talents for the future. That goes for any format of cricket.

[1714645025]

1714645025

[Smack That Ace]

They have indeed shown some improvement from 2019 till now but they are no match against England at the moment. England is one of the top 3 teams in test cricket. Whereas Ireland ranks 12th on the list of top test teams, one of a test match against England is a wonderful opportunity for them. Am I the only one that feels that Ireland is getting more opportunities across all formats compared to other teams?
I mean there is Zimbabwe above them and then there is Scotland below them but I haven't seen these two teams getting more test games than Ireland in this year.

I don't know. IMO, their quality went down after 2019. Still they are unable to replace their players who retired recently, such as Kevin O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, William Porterfield and Tim Murtagh. But now there is hope for them. The fund allocation from the ICC has been increased by more than 3 times. Cricket Ireland can use at least part of these funds to improve the quality of domestic cricket and to construct new infrastructural facilities such as stadiums and training centers. At this point, they may be the strongest tier-2 test team. Don't think that Zimbabwe are above them. 

If we actually talk about whether Ireland is better or Zimbabwe it is going to be a debate. I think both of them are actually very close. But if we simply talk about Ireland against England I don't think they have any kind of chance even if England does not bring the main team. Well in the test match, Ireland surely does not have any chance.

Probably in the ODI Ireland will get close but I still do not think Ireland will be able to beat England in any of the three ODI. If England does end up losing even one of these matches it is going to be very surprising. England should actually try out different things and players in this series against Ireland.

Regards

Duke

[Sithara007]

Infrastructure is a big concern! They do not have proper grounds and stadium for cricket. Domestic cricket needs to be improved that is for sure. They have talents and all they need to do is provide them with a good infrastructure. Without it you cannot nurture those talents for the future. That goes for any format of cricket.

Hopefully with increased funding, they will be able to construct new stadiums and training facilities. Right now they are being forced to schedule most of their international matches in England. A lot of the talented Irish players opt for county cricket in England and they never return. Stuart Poynter is a perfect example. Now their funding from the ICC has been increased to $18 million for the 2024-27 cycle, from the previous allocation of $5 million per year. Hopefully some of that money will end up with domestic players and less number of them will consider moving to England.

[Litzki1990]

News from England is that Jonny Bairstow has been included for the test against Ireland. He will be replacing Ben Foakes as the wicket-keeper. But there are quite a few setbacks for the Poms. James Anderson has been included in the squad, but he has been suffering a minor groin strain and was forced to retire from the recent county championship match for Lancashire last week. Jofra Archer has been ruled out of this season, as his stress fracture has recurred. In case Anderson and Archer are not fit, then the England pace attack will be led by Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson along with the evergreen Stuart Broad.

It is very good news that Jonny Bairstow has come back from such a big injury. The condition of his injury was so severe that there were doubts whether he would ever walk again but after battling with the injury for a long time, the English wicket-keeper batsman has finally returned to cricket.  His inclusion in the team against Ireland will really give a good boost to the batting line-up but it remains to be seen how much he can present after coming back from injury as it takes a long time to get back into form. Hope Jonny Bairstow gets back to form very soon. We are waiting to see beautiful innings from him.

[romero121]

Infrastructure is a big concern! They do not have proper grounds and stadium for cricket. Domestic cricket needs to be improved that is for sure. They have talents and all they need to do is provide them with a good infrastructure. Without it you cannot nurture those talents for the future. That goes for any format of cricket.

Hopefully with increased funding, they will be able to construct new stadiums and training facilities. Right now they are being forced to schedule most of their international matches in England. A lot of the talented Irish players opt for county cricket in England and they never return. Stuart Poynter is a perfect example. Now their funding from the ICC has been increased to $18 million for the 2024-27 cycle, from the previous allocation of $5 million per year. Hopefully some of that money will end up with domestic players and less number of them will consider moving to England.

When the players doesn't get an opportunity, they look for the neighbouring countries where they can get a chance to play. In few years time Ireland will be among the leading cricket playing nations list. With batting and bowling there is good number of players. The proper funding and infrastructure will surely help the team perform better. Domestic setup is the base for the existence of new talents. Team should progress one after the other and shouldn't go down as Zimbabwe team. Once Zimbabwe used to be a strong team, then not much of players came from the country and once again now it had begun to improve its performance.

[fuguebtc]

Infrastructure is a big concern! They do not have proper grounds and stadium for cricket. Domestic cricket needs to be improved that is for sure. They have talents and all they need to do is provide them with a good infrastructure. Without it you cannot nurture those talents for the future. That goes for any format of cricket.

Hopefully with increased funding, they will be able to construct new stadiums and training facilities. Right now they are being forced to schedule most of their international matches in England. A lot of the talented Irish players opt for county cricket in England and they never return. Stuart Poynter is a perfect example. Now their funding from the ICC has been increased to $18 million for the 2024-27 cycle, from the previous allocation of $5 million per year. Hopefully some of that money will end up with domestic players and less number of them will consider moving to England.

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

[dezoel]

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

There is no doubt about this now cricket is taking transitioning which is surely going to have big impact on this format test with many legendary former players are also feeling not good because they are saying we need to increase fees of test players for competing with this T20i transitioning which is surely not easy because right now no one thinking about this and have no courage to work with bold decisions which help this format and cricket.

For this all we need all boards sit and have positive mindset which helps this franchise revolution and also encouragement for the test format as well this all needs huge funding to domestic setup and also teams with national color if they are not able to have any positive solution then surely we will have mess up which will create more problems.

[fuguebtc]

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

There is no doubt about this now cricket is taking transitioning which is surely going to have big impact on this format test with many legendary former players are also feeling not good because they are saying we need to increase fees of test players for competing with this T20i transitioning which is surely not easy because right now no one thinking about this and have no courage to work with bold decisions which help this format and cricket.
For this all we need all boards sit and have positive mindset which helps this franchise revolution and also encouragement for the test format as well this all needs huge funding to domestic setup and also teams with national color if they are not able to have any positive solution then surely we will have mess up which will create more problems.

It is going to be really hard to actually do that. Because we all know that ICC is being run by the big four cricket boards. So, ICC will always think about what is best for the big four. Not what is best for the game. And that's why I don't think the associate countries will actually be able to improve in the game when it comes to long-term improvement.

Tell me how they can improve when most of the money is going to the teams which are already great at the game and also running the show?

[wiss19]

It is going to be really hard to actually do that. Because we all know that ICC is being run by the big four cricket boards. So, ICC will always think about what is best for the big four. Not what is best for the game. And that's why I don't think the associate countries will actually be able to improve in the game when it comes to long-term improvement.

Tell me how they can improve when most of the money is going to the teams which are already great at the game and also running the show?

Now Associates need to cut their ties with test format because now this is just waste of time for them, we have no bright future for any new country in this format even now we are also having trouble with few countries which are enjoying this format for decades like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and having just six to eight countries which can do something better it's all now waste of time and energy so better thing just go for the white ball and enjoy which is much better and profitable as well.

With this all we will surely need to change rules about distribution of funds as well because now they also deserve better funding which will help their domestic set up, and they will be able to bring quality players for their national teams as well even this all is not easy but still possible but for this we need big heart from Big-4 as well.

[fuguebtc]

It is going to be really hard to actually do that. Because we all know that ICC is being run by the big four cricket boards. So, ICC will always think about what is best for the big four. Not what is best for the game. And that's why I don't think the associate countries will actually be able to improve in the game when it comes to long-term improvement.
Tell me how they can improve when most of the money is going to the teams which are already great at the game and also running the show?

Now Associates need to cut their ties with test format because now this is just waste of time for them, we have no bright future for any new country in this format even now we are also having trouble with few countries which are enjoying this format for decades like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and having just six to eight countries which can do something better it's all now waste of time and energy so better thing just go for the white ball and enjoy which is much better and profitable as well.
With this all we will surely need to change rules about distribution of funds as well because now they also deserve better funding which will help their domestic set up, and they will be able to bring quality players for their national teams as well even this all is not easy but still possible but for this we need big heart from Big-4 as well.

I absolutely agree that associate Nations should not think about test cricket as a format of improving. They should be thinking about improving in the shorter formats of cricket. You know, the T20 format is actually a lot more popular than the other formats of cricket. So I think they should only be thinking about getting better in the T20 format.

I also strongly believe that T20 is the only format in which the associate nations will have a slide chance to beat the bigger opponents like the big four. In any other format, they will find it really hard to do. I really do not understand why the test format is still a format. I thought the ICC actually does not get good enough revenue from the test format.

[Sithara007]

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

Ireland has a small base to source their players. The combined population (Republic of Ireland + Northern Ireland) is only around 7 million and popularity of cricket is not that high. Ireland can be compared to New Zealand (population of around 5 million), but then the latter has a cricketing history of more than a hundred years and a well established domestic system. Ireland on the other hand has just 4 first class teams (and out of them Munster Reds don't play 4-day cricket), and the quality of domestic matches are not up to the mark. And unlike the case with New Zealand, Ireland can't bank on imports from South Africa.

[JSRAW]

I absolutely agree that associate Nations should not think about test cricket as a format of improving. They should be thinking about improving in the shorter formats of cricket. You know, the T20 format is actually a lot more popular than the other formats of cricket. So I think they should only be thinking about getting better in the T20 format.
 

ICC and the old guard are doing precisely the opposite and as far as i understand this stance is not going to change anytime soon.

Existing boards are already taking a hit just by hosting test matches but the romanticization of red-ball cricket runs way too deep and it's the worst scenario for associates. 

[Sithara007]

I absolutely agree that associate Nations should not think about test cricket as a format of improving. They should be thinking about improving in the shorter formats of cricket. You know, the T20 format is actually a lot more popular than the other formats of cricket. So I think they should only be thinking about getting better in the T20 format.
 

ICC and the old guard are doing precisely the opposite and as far as i understand this stance is not going to change anytime soon.

Existing boards are already taking a hit just by hosting test matches but the romanticization of red-ball cricket runs way too deep and it's the worst scenario for associates. 

Not sure whether I can agree with that. There used to be a competition called "ICC Intercontinental Cup", where the leading associates used to play 4-day cricket. It was first established in 2004, when ICC was still under Jagmohan Dalmiya. Up to 14 associate nations used to take part in this tournament, before it was scrapped back in 2017 by the Srinivasan/Pawar mafia. For the last 6 years, there have been no attempt from the ICC to get associate nations to play the longer version of the game. They do use this excuse to reduce the funding to these teams.

[fuguebtc]

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

Ireland has a small base to source their players. The combined population (Republic of Ireland + Northern Ireland) is only around 7 million and popularity of cricket is not that high. Ireland can be compared to New Zealand (population of around 5 million), but then the latter has a cricketing history of more than a hundred years and a well established domestic system. Ireland on the other hand has just 4 first class teams (and out of them Munster Reds don't play 4-day cricket), and the quality of domestic matches are not up to the mark. And unlike the case with New Zealand, Ireland can't bank on imports from South Africa.

I bet the situation could have been very different if cricket was actually popular all around Ireland. If the Ireland people were actually interested in cricket I believe Ireland could have looked more like New Zealand. But of course, when the funding is not good enough and cricket is also not very popular there are not going to be many people who will actually want to take up cricket as a profession.

Population is not very big, I agree. But that population is certainly big enough to find 11 proper players with good domestic setup. But as we all know that domestic setup is also not good in Ireland. Probably that will be fixed with more money being given by the ICC.

ICC and the old guard are doing precisely the opposite and as far as i understand this stance is not going to change anytime soon.
Existing boards are already taking a hit just by hosting test matches but the romanticization of red-ball cricket runs way too deep and it's the worst scenario for associates. 

Not sure whether I can agree with that. There used to be a competition called "ICC Intercontinental Cup", where the leading associates used to play 4-day cricket. It was first established in 2004, when ICC was still under Jagmohan Dalmiya. Up to 14 associate nations used to take part in this tournament, before it was scrapped back in 2017 by the Srinivasan/Pawar mafia. For the last 6 years, there have been no attempt from the ICC to get associate nations to play the longer version of the game. They do use this excuse to reduce the funding to these teams.

The ICC is not actually very thoughtful about the associate nations. They are actually interested in decreasing the funding of them so that they can actually fund the bigger teams more and more. Basically, they want to fund those teams which are generating more revenue for them. This is absolutely bad practice for the cricket game itself. I am sure that ICC does not give too much importance to the associate nations because they are not very interested in bringing in new teams. Otherwise, cricket would have been very different around the world.

[Litzki1990]

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

Ireland has a small base to source their players. The combined population (Republic of Ireland + Northern Ireland) is only around 7 million and popularity of cricket is not that high. Ireland can be compared to New Zealand (population of around 5 million), but then the latter has a cricketing history of more than a hundred years and a well established domestic system. Ireland on the other hand has just 4 first class teams (and out of them Munster Reds don't play 4-day cricket), and the quality of domestic matches are not up to the mark. And unlike the case with New Zealand, Ireland can't bank on imports from South Africa.

Right now the Ireland team has several talented players who are capable of taking the team to a better position in the future. Ireland has good bowlers or good batsman but Ireland lacks proper direction. If the players who are currently playing for the team are given the right direction and given the right training, they can turn this team into a team like New Zealand.

As Ireland has been doing well in cricket recently, the Ireland Cricket Board should take advantage of this opportunity. If the Ireland Cricket Board can provide various facilities including increasing the salaries and allowances of the players who are there then the number of cricketers in that country will increase and Ireland will become a strong team.

[elevates]

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

You absolutely correct every cricket playing nation now prefer T20 over other formats. One of primary reason being revenue generated from T20 series. Still test cricket will prevail until the big 4 continues to play. ICC selection criteria for both the one day world cup and test world cup is a compelling factor for every country to keep playing these two formats. Those who are part of the governing body does not want other formats to die. Until then we will keep on seeing them.
.

[fuguebtc]

I can see more players being interested in playing for the national team since the funding has literally tripled. I am sure that is going to bring some more players to play for the national team seriously. But I do wonder how much that is going to help because cricket seems to be transitioning towards T20 league and franchise cricket. The only time people are actually interested in international cricket is when big ICC tournaments are going on. It is going to be a really hard environment for the associate teams and the smaller teams to actually improve in cricket.

You absolutely correct every cricket playing nation now prefer T20 over other formats. One of primary reason being revenue generated from T20 series. Still test cricket will prevail until the big 4 continues to play. ICC selection criteria for both the one day world cup and test world cup is a compelling factor for every country to keep playing these two formats. Those who are part of the governing body does not want other formats to die. Until then we will keep on seeing them.

ICC really needs to grow some balls and tell the Big 4 that they are bad for business. ICC needs to take matters into their own hands and make a decision of taking a step like that. Otherwise, they are always going to be controlled by the big four and they are not going to be able to do anything on their own. But will the ICC take a step like that? Doesn't seem like it. Otherwise, they would have done it a long time ago and the situation of cricket would help in different by now. And I don't think it is right to expect something like that because the ICC personnel are very friendly with the Big 4.

Right now the Ireland team has several talented players who are capable of taking the team to a better position in the future. Ireland has good bowlers or good batsman but Ireland lacks proper direction. If the players who are currently playing for the team are given the right direction and given the right training, they can turn this team into a team like New Zealand.

As Ireland has been doing well in cricket recently, the Ireland Cricket Board should take advantage of this opportunity. If the Ireland Cricket Board can provide various facilities including increasing the salaries and allowances of the players who are there then the number of cricketers in that country will increase and Ireland will become a strong team.

The money from the ICC is definitely good now. And I believe they will be able to improve using that. And I hope the money is not going to somehow get lost in corruption. I don't know the situation of the Ireland cricket board. But I believe they are not that much corrupted.

[Sithara007]

The ICC is not actually very thoughtful about the associate nations. They are actually interested in decreasing the funding of them so that they can actually fund the bigger teams more and more. Basically, they want to fund those teams which are generating more revenue for them. This is absolutely bad practice for the cricket game itself. I am sure that ICC does not give too much importance to the associate nations because they are not very interested in bringing in new teams. Otherwise, cricket would have been very different around the world.

Cricket is once again moving to the Srinivasan/Pawar era, where they had this pig-3 setup. Associate nations used to receive somewhere around 30% and 35% of the ICC revenues during the 2007-15 cycle. Srinivasan reduced it to 11% for the 2015-23 cycle (actually he wanted to reduce it to zero, but then a compromise deal was reached). For the next cycle (2024-27) also the same percentage has been allotted to the associate nations. The problem here is that the number of associate nations have gone up thanks to the weird player eligibility criteria setup by the ICC. So now there are more number of teams, and less amount of funds to be shared among them.

[wiss19]

There used to be a competition called "ICC Intercontinental Cup", where the leading associates used to play 4-day cricket. It was first established in 2004, when ICC was still under Jagmohan Dalmiya. Up to 14 associate nations used to take part in this tournament, before it was scrapped back in 2017 by the Srinivasan/Pawar mafia. For the last 6 years, there have been no attempt from the ICC to get associate nations to play the longer version of the game. They do use this excuse to reduce the funding to these teams.

I am not in favor of this idea right now because this gap is surely having his impact, and we can't bring any positive from this if we have this idea in running from the start then surely things could be different and many countries could be able to have teams for this long run format, but now it's not going to have anything ideal.
Jagmohan Dalmiya was the cricket lover but his all amazing ideas and work ruin by Srinivasan/Pawar mafia which hurt this game in long run as well now with this all we are having good idea to develop franchise cricket and enjoy with this.

Test is now played of just 8 to 10 countries game which will surely have changes in near future as well because when we will have not good funding for the domestic setup which is needed then surely more players will be gone for these franchise instead of going to play this long term format which is also having no salary which is needed to stay in this format.

[fuguebtc]

The ICC is not actually very thoughtful about the associate nations. They are actually interested in decreasing the funding of them so that they can actually fund the bigger teams more and more. Basically, they want to fund those teams which are generating more revenue for them. This is absolutely bad practice for the cricket game itself. I am sure that ICC does not give too much importance to the associate nations because they are not very interested in bringing in new teams. Otherwise, cricket would have been very different around the world.

Cricket is once again moving to the Srinivasan/Pawar era, where they had this pig-3 setup. Associate nations used to receive somewhere around 30% and 35% of the ICC revenues during the 2007-15 cycle. Srinivasan reduced it to 11% for the 2015-23 cycle (actually he wanted to reduce it to zero, but then a compromise deal was reached). For the next cycle (2024-27) also the same percentage has been allotted to the associate nations. The problem here is that the number of associate nations have gone up thanks to the weird player eligibility criteria setup by the ICC. So now there are more number of teams, and less amount of funds to be shared among them.

This is actually stupid in my opinion. Every cricket fan is actually watching the future of cricket and saying that it is doomed. But the sports body which runs cricket, ICC, is not worried about it at all. They are more worried about the money that they are getting in the shorter term. They have to think about this in the longer term. If they want to ensure that cricket actually survives they will have to get out of the big 3/big 4 mentality. Cricket cannot survive under such a small minded authority.

If the big 3 is not changed of course the big 3 is going to keep most of the money. That is never going to be sustainable in the long run and the associate nations are not going to improve as long as this goes on.