Ireland: Frustration for Ken Rutherford

New Coach Ken Rutherford has not had the most satisfactory of seasons in this important part of the build up to Toronto and the ICC Trophy next year.

The annual Triple Crown series, this year played in Wales, was totally washed out from an Irish viewpoint. They did not get to play even one ball in their three matches and all had to be decided on bowl outs. Of these they won one, lost one and one was, believe it or not, tied!

The regulations had failed to provide for what happened if, after each of the five bowlers had taken their two deliveries at the stumps, the scores were still level. The organisers had obviously assumed that this would not happen. However, Murphy's law struck and the score after the 10 deliveries was 4-4. In fact this happened also in the match involving Wales and England which also resulted in a bowl out.

Scotland won the tournament and Ireland was in fact second, despite not playing any real cricket. The Irish squad had included two uncapped players and one of these found himself after the tournament not having played a proper match for Ireland, yet having taken part in the three bowl outs. What would be his position if he was never picked again? Was he an Irish International or not? In fact the issue got resolved as he did play subsequently in the European Cup.

This year's European Cup was held in Scotland and was won by the team that was probably most people's pre-tournament favourite, Holland.

The Triple Crown wash out had left Ireland at a real disadvantage in terms of preparation for this tournament. Both Scotland and England had got at least some cricket in that competition, while both the Dutch and Denmark had played warm up matches. Ireland was probably missing up to six of what might be considered its best first team for a combination of reasons. The team also included three uncapped players.

The first two matches were lost to Holland and ECB XI. Wins were then achieved against Denmark and Italy, leaving the final match against Scotland to determine third place. Unfortunately, as has proved so usual over the past number of years, the Scots were triumphant leaving Ireland in fourth place out of the six teams participating.

However, all was not total doom and gloom. Andrew White made his "real" debut here and scored a fine century against Denmark. He was one of three players in the squad who had played in the Under 19 World Cup finals earlier this year. He is also an off spinner who took a number of wickets. Definitely a real future prospect.

The other two new caps were brothers, Gus and Dominick Joyce. They became the first ever brothers to open the batting for Ireland when they played together against Italy in Gus' debut. They are also brothers of Ed who has played some 35 times for Ireland and is at present on contract with Middlesex. As if that was not enough for one family, their sister Isobel played for Ireland Ladies against Pakistan in a Test Match (Ireland's first ever) and a series of one day internationals and another sister Cecilia, would have made her debut for Ireland but for the final game being washed out.

Ireland now finds itself going into the 11th and final game of the season, the annual first class match against Scotland, this year in Ayr, without any one batsman having yet passed 200 runs for the season. The batting is definitely a cause of concern to the Coach and Selectors. One possible hopeful sign was that past captain Alan Lewis who had retired after the 1997 season has indicated that the door might not be totally closed to a come back. He is still in excellent form at club level and if his rugby commitments permit (he is an International referee) he would still be a very real asset to the team.

On the domestic level, the Cup Finals have been played in all three provinces. In Leinster Clontarf achieved their 6th win in the Cup, beating North County who were making their first ever appearance in the final. Earlier the first trophy of the season went to Phoenix who beat The Hills in the final of the Lewis Traub League. Phoenix made an excellent capture some three years ago when an Australian who came to Ireland joined them.

Jeremy Bray has already broken the records for the quickest to 1,000 runs and also to 2,000 runs in Leinster Senior Cricket, and is on the verge of breaking the record for 3,000. He is also looking very likely to break the record number of runs for a season. He is averaging in excess of 100 this year. Unfortunately the ICC qualification period of 5 years means he will not be available for the tournament in Toronto, as he would undoubtedly be an automatic selection if he was.

He is one of a large number of players from overseas who are playing their cricket in Ireland. Many are here for one season only, either as professionals or enjoying a round the world trip. However there are some who have been living here for some years and hopefully they will complete the five years necessary to qualify for Ireland under ICC rules as they would undoubtedly strengthen the team significantly.

The last of the season's competitions in Leinster is the Whitney Moore and Keller League. This league is divided into 2 sections, each of 7 teams, with 2 up and 2 down. Many feel this is too many in sections with such a small number in them. There is no doubt this argument has strong support. Equally, however, there is little doubt that it ensures every match is competitive either towards winning the section or avoiding being relegated.

In the Northern Cricket Union, North Down defeated Woodvale (who were in their third successive final) by 48 runs, in what was a low scoring game. The North Down team contained two players who were on the Under 19 party who played in the World Cup and they also both were capped by Ireland this year.

These were Andrew White, whom I have referred to earlier and who won the Man of the Match award in the final, and Ryan Haire. Ryan is a son of Robin Haire who was capped for Ireland in the mid 1980's and they are both playing for North Down - a scorer's nightmare as they both have exactly the same initials so full names are needed to distinguish them.

In the North West, the Cup winners were Limavady who defeated Brigade by 9 wickets, thanks largely to a substantial first innings lead.

Limavady are still on route to a possible Cup double. They are in the semi finals of the Royal Liver All Ireland Cup where they meet North Down (also in the hunt for the double) on Friday 11th in a replay of the original match which was rained off when Limavady were in a very good position. Donemana await the winners in the final. The North West had three of the four semi finalists showing once again their particular liking for this tournament.

The Interprovincial tournament comes to a climax over the coming weekend with all 4 teams coming together in Dublin, the two Northern teams playing the two Southern ones. At present Leinster and North West each have a win from the one match they have played, and the match between those two could prove to be effectively a final, though one cannot rule out the Northern Union is particular from proving winners.

These matches will give coach Rutherford an opportunity to see all realistic contenders for Toronto (except those under contract to counties in England) playing at a level above their clubs. Hopefully rain won't spoil the weekend.