Ireland Test debut ‘just the beginning’ says cricket chief
Ireland lost their first ever Test Match against Pakistan earlier this week, but the Irish Cricket chief executive feels confident, as reported by BBC Sport.
They accounted themselves well throughout the match, but ultimately went down in a 5 wicket defeat to their Pakistani opponents.
There were a number of fine individual performances from the Irish during the match, including a brilliant century from Kevin O’Brien.
They are also due to face India in limited overs contests in June and the second of those T20 matches has already been sold out.
The boss Warren Deutrom has admitted that there is a great deal to look forward to after a positive start in the Test arena:
We’re not going to suddenly be the biggest sport overnight but if I look back where we were 10 years ago to where we are now, and trace the potential for us over the next five, 10 years, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be a major sport in Ireland,
We’ve probably done this the wrong way around. Most teams, they get very good at what they do domestically then they make a big noise globally.”We’ve made a big noise globally and are using that as a means of driving popularity and visibility of the sport back here in Ireland.