
|

Sachin Tendulkar became Roger Whelan's first ODI victim, but the moment was witnessed by hardly a few hundred people at the ground
© Getty Images
|
|
One of the few bright moments from a dark World Cup was watching a
conga line of Irish fans being led around every stadium they went to
by a Leprecon. He made it to Stormont, but the atmosphere was all
together different from those heady days in Jamaica and Guyana.
Ireland were carried along in the Caribbean on a wave of euphoria as a
disbelieving public back home were caught by the cricket bug. The true
test is sustaining that enthusiasm, especially now that leading
players are choosing to stay with their counties and others are opting
out.
Their first one-day international since returning from the West Indies
would give a truer perspective on the game in Ireland. There were
pre-match sales of 3000 for the visit of India, but by the start of
play numbers were in the hundreds, not thousands. Approaching the
ground in the morning there was the expectation of at least a few
queues for the car parks and entrances, but there was only a trickle
and not stampede.
Slowly a few more began to take their seats - including the Leprecon -
but it was a disappointing picture. The weather didn't help as a cold
wind blew across the ground leaving jackets and hats the order of the
day rather than t-shirts and shorts. However, more than the elements, there
was a man-made reason behind the poor turnout.
Across Northern Ireland there were 86 club matches scheduled and, as
hard as the Irish Cricket Union (ICU) and Northern Cricket Union (NCU)
worked, the one-day internationals were not granted a clear weekend.
That removed a large chunk of likely spectators, from the club players
themselves down to friends and families.
"To be honest I'm a bit disappointed," said Warren Deutrom, the ICU
chief executive, "we did all we could but the NCU committee wouldn't
agree to stopping the fixtures." However, after the weeks of fraught
negotiation to ensure the matches went ahead at all he was just
relived to have some cricket to watch. "All we want is to stage
matches. We have the facilities, commitment and enthusiasm."
The crowd, or lack of, was a major blow because nothing would show
that there is a strong future ahead more than full houses. When
Ireland took on England last year in the ground's first full ODI it
was a capacity crowd. There is a feeling that at £35 for adults the tickets are a
little on the steep side.
A large number of the fans who did make it down were Indian
supporters. They cheered on their side and there was even some
chanting as Sourav Ganguly ran in to bowl. Whenever Sachin Tendulkar
touched the ball it was a greeted with a mini-cacophony. However, the
cheers from the Irish fans when he was bowled belied the few hundred
spectators remaining after the rain. One fan even managed to get a
drum past security. The ICC are a long way away.
One of the aims of this match had been to tap into the local Indian
community and they formed a significant proportion of the support. "I
live in Belfast so I don't get to see the Indian team at grounds very
much," said Sunil, "so I took the chance to see this match and I'm
coming back for one of the South Africa games [during the week]."
But for Irish cricket the most important factor is to entice the
locals into the ground. There is clearly huge potential and,
ironically, the strong club scene which has hit the attendance is a
sign of that. When Niall O'Brien reached his fighting half-century and
Trent Johnston briefly cut loose at the end of Ireland's innings the
supporters came to life. But still there wasn't a conga in sight.
Andrew McGlashan is a staff writer on Cricinfo.