Is this going to be worth watching?
I'll have a go on at this but it's a bit of a long story. Basically the team was elevated to Test status following quite reasonable performances in the 50-over World Cups in 2007, 2011 and 2015. That team was a bit of a relative golden generation for Irish cricket with the likes of Joyce, Morgan, the O'Briens, Rankin, Porterfield and Stirling all coming through at around the same time in what is a minority sport here.
However, as mentioned up thread, this is only Ireland's 12th test since their first one in 2018. There seems to be quite serious challenges regarding funding and this has impacted the fixture list quite a bit. For a few years there was a domestic three-day interprovincial championship but that hasn't been contested since 2019, raising the question of how can Ireland expect to produce test players with no domestic first class cricket? A lot of the 2007 to 2015 era team were able to develop this experience in English county cricket but that option is mainly off the table at the moment as Irish players are now considered to be 'overseas' and so less attractive to English counties. Another little flurry of players did emerge just after the Covid years in Little, the Tectors and Tucker - possibly the last ones to benefit from having had a domestic multi-day competition to play in. In more recent years many of the debutants and development squad members have been Irish-qualified players originally from overseas.
In response to the question posed elsewhere concerning why this is a four-day game? Again, I wouldn't be surprised if it's as simple as that it's because they are less expensive to host than five-day games.
@Beige-XI said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
how can Ireland expect to produce test players with no domestic first class cricket?
this is key. I understand that was a critical element in Bangladesh getting regular test status.
*
Also NZ doing pretty well - Ravindra 120 odd and Blundell 128* as I type. Irish bowler adair looks good, tall, getting bounce
Blundell with a career extending knock at a much needed time. Ravindra sounded class too. Things looking slightly dicey there for awhile so good on both. Good support from our latest South African import too.
KW with a real "meh" score of 36, when he makes a start he almost always goes on. Most unusual.
Declaration after the first session maybe ? it's only a four day test after all.
I was a bit grumpy at the Black Caps when falling asleep at the lunch break, but Blundell and Ravindra did very well.
Agreed on declaration at lunch today, unless they gamble on only batting once
@Donsteppa said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
I was a bit grumpy at the Black Caps when falling asleep at the lunch break, but Blundell and Ravindra did very well.
Agreed on declaration at lunch today, unless they gamble on only batting once
Yeah they have to balance whether this "midweek" bowling attack can do the job as it's "only Ireland" or not......
You can forgive Conway for getting out to that catch. Terrible camerawork in these highlights though.
@Bovidae said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
You can forgive Conway for getting out to that catch.
Nice looking ground.
So weird hearing cricket commentators with Irish accents.
......and yeah, hell of a catch.
Ravindra played some really lovely shots. Blundell did too to be fair.
In years to come Liam McCarthy can regale people over a Guiness or 20 that his first test wicket was that of Kane Williamson. That's pretty good shit really.
150 for Blundell, 50 for Foxcroft on debut. 386/5
"only" Ireland but these two and of course Ravindra dug NZ out of some shit.
Lunchtime declaration on the cards.
Going to script as Ireland are following on. Unlucky for Foxcroft to not get a century on debut.
@Bovidae said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
following on
I thought that was illegal?
What about Laxman?
The bowlers will implode under the workload ...
@Bovidae said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
You can forgive Conway for getting out to that catch. Terrible camerawork in these highlights though.
Yeah as soon as I started watching, I was reminded how poor the camerawork was during our bunch of white-ball games there a few years back. Must be hiring locals rather than putting couple of specialist cricket camera ops who know how to track a cricket ball in those key camera positions.
@MN5 said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
and of course Ravindra dug NZ out of some shit.
thats high praise for Ravindra coming from you 
@bayimports said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
@MN5 said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:
and of course Ravindra dug NZ out of some shit.
thats high praise for Ravindra coming from you
Fair.
he is definitely justifying the hype I must say. I would dearly love him to have a huge series vs England ( along with any number of others ) it's worth noting he is the only one of the top six not 34/35 years of age too.
Great to see Nathan Smith among the wickets. Could be a crucial team member given the three main men all have a bad habit of breaking at the drop of a hat.
The thing with Ravindra he is very naturally talented,But I have seen this a lot, he gets bored batting it is almost too easy so he finds ways to get himself out.
He needs to get hungry and set targets to stay focused.