The History and Evolution of Cricket in Ireland

The beginning

• Since 1792 cricket has been played in Ireland• The first game was played between the

Military of Ireland and the Gentlemen of Ireland

• The game was booming through the 1850s, and at one stage was the most popular sport in the country

The decline • At the turn of the century however the game

started to fall into decline • The decline was mainly associated to politics and

class • The growth of the Gaelic games became a rallying

point for working class people who were unhappy with their upper class, cricket playing landlords

• The game was still played in the north of the country and in central and north Dublin however

Draconian Law

• The future and survival of cricket was thrown into doubt in 1902

• The G.A.A passed the draconian law which stated that any G.A.A players could not play or even watch the so called ‘English Games’.

• This ban of soccer, rugby and cricket lasted for 70 years in the country

Long road back…

• The first real semblance of organisation came in 1923 with the formation of the Irish Cricket Union

• Proper competitive matches did not come until 1980 when Ireland entered the English Gillette cup

• This was a long and painful learning curve for the Irish team as it took 24 years for Ireland to get a win in the competition

• Ireland ended a disappointing 2001 finishing as the 18th best team in the world cup

Things can only get better

• After years of disappointment Ireland began to make massive strides and started to take prestigious scalps including Zimbabwe (2003) and the West Indies (2004)

• Ireland qualified and reached the super 8 stage (quarter finals) of the 2007 world cup beating Pakistan and Bangladesh along the way

• Ireland finished as the 10th best team in the world and that was the first time an associate member was ever ranked higher then a full member nation

Irelands most famous day

• In the 2011 world cup Ireland provided the biggest shock in world cup history by beating great rivals and tournament favourites England

• At the time it was the highest successful run chase at a world cup (329 runs)

• Kevin O’Brien became an overnight sensation and national hero hitting a record century of only 50 balls!

The future

• Cricket Ireland are hoping to make cricket the fourth most popular field sport in Ireland

• At the recent world cup Ireland failed to reach the super 8’s but did have an impressive tournament with 3 wins out of 6. Only being knocked out on net run rate

• However Irish participation at future world cup is in doubt as the ICC want to reduce the competition to only 10 teams

• Ireland are leading the movement to try and change the ICC’s mind with a decision expected to be made next year

Thank you for listening! As you have seen Cricket in Ireland has had a

rollercoaster ride through its history I hope I’ve peaked the interest of cricket for

some of you here and Ill now take any questions you may have.

#COYBIG #BackingGreen