Sunday 2:30am cricket rant COMING IN HOT.

Where to begin in this Irish cricket tangle? A combination of so many factors, and while they'll give themselves no excuses (nor should they), this series has been a cruel indictment of cricket's issues and things out of their control.

Their team 3-5 years ago would waltz past the lineup. BUT, this is not solely the players’ fault, nor Cricket Ireland’s for the most part. We cannot forget that the game’s governance, financial model and previous international calendar has tied Ireland up, stagnated them etc.

After dangling Test cricket and Full Member status, and finally earning it, Ireland are almost worse off for it. If they end €500k in the red after HOSTING a Test match, the global game's model is broken. Where's the benefit in them being ambitious? How can they grow?

You just dangled this carrot while setting them up in an all-time trap. And now post-Ed Joyce, prime William Porterfield, NOB etc, there has been a void between Ireland's golden age who should have played Test cricket 4-5 years ago and the next crop to come through.

Some have been thrown in the deep end without proper opportunities (can't afford to schedule enough games) and Irish internationals who were citizens within the UK were forced out of County Cricket via ECB red tape unless they declared themselves as local, basically Kolpak.

A cyber fraud happened, fixtures were cancelled, and the lure of a franchise T20 competition involving them fell all-too-predictably arse up through no fault of theirs.

Thank heavens the ODI Super League exists - they finally get a chance to get the proper experience to just pit themselves against the opposition that will develop their game. It's a bit unlucky to get the World Champions (who also have unbelievable depth) first up as well.

Finally a chance to get the same experience as those at the next level. Finally the chance to move around and experience different conditions, different scenarios, and learn the necessary lessons.

. @timcutler put it perfectly on a story we ran on @EmergingCricket late last year: https://emergingcricket.com/insight/broader-issues-in-spotlight-after-annus-horribilis-for-cricket-ireland/

“C. Ireland has been a shining light of the game off the field for over a decade; its executives and governance model are heralded, and many observers agreed that their promotion to FM of the ICC was long overdue. There’s more to (a bad 2019) this than just being about Ireland.”

With two T20 World Cups in the next two years, and a 50-Over World Cup in 2023, don’t let the game’s power brokers tell you they’ll be struggling three years after *these uncertain times.*

They’ve set it up it to make as much money in the least amount of time - but we better keep them on their toes to ensure that money goes back to low-end Full Members and Associates. Ireland gets half of what Zimbabwe do, and Zimbabwe gets peanuts.

Let's learn the right lesson here. Critics of the developing nations will harp on about the lack of quality, but it should underline the lack of opportunity, the lack of a level playing field. Ireland are still playing with an arm behind their back.

BACK IRELAND. An deireadh.

And in the midst of all this, they're still pushing the World Champions. Whodathunkit.