OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

O'Brien-led spirited show highlights importance of Intercontinental Cup

by Bertus de Jong • Last updated on

Kevin O’Brien's last First Class century came in the competition that served as the scaffold on which his country's Test aspirations were built. © Getty

Kevin O'Brien is no longer an Associate batsman of course, nonetheless his former peers will have cheered every run of his century against Pakistan in Ireland's historic first Test, in Malahide. With ICC CEO David Richardson stating last month that the number of Test-playing countries might be permanently capped at 12, those hoping to see the door stay ajar for the countries Ireland have left behind will have been desperate for Ireland to at least avoid the humiliation of the sort of emphatic defeat that is the norm for debut Test nations. O'Brien has at least prevented that.

O'Brien's last First Class century came in the competition that served as the scaffold on which his country's Test aspirations were built, an unbeaten 171 against Kenya in the ICC's Intercontinental Cup some ten years ago. That competition now faces an uncertain future, with the promised "Test Challenge" made redundant by Ireland and Afghanistan's elevation and the next cycle still unconfirmed, and the ICC's development focus seemingly moving away from the longer formats. The performance of the tournament's two graduates at the highest level will be crucial to the case that it be preserved.

Kenya themselves of course will not be likely to benefit regardless, their trajectory since that game quite the opposite of Ireland's. The last decade of on-field decline and off-field self-sabotage has seen them slide from their early 2000's pre-eminence when they were widely seen as a sure bet for the next Test nation and consigned them now to the ignominy of contesting World Cricket League Division 3, two tiers down from the Associate top flight. Nonetheless, they appear to be on course to shed the unwanted yet closely-contested title of most dysfunctional cricket board in Africa. The Cricket Kenya interim committee set up after the sitting board was dissolved by Sports Minister Rashid Achesa last month has reportedly received the go-ahead to draft a new constitution from the ICC CEO, who was in Nairobi last week for ICC's Africa regional conference, and the rehabilitated former captain Maurice Odumbe has taken over the role of national coach. The beleaguered board is not out of the woods yet, with Odumbe's predecessor Thomas Odoyo claiming they still owe him three months of back pay, but the risk of suspension from the ICC on grounds of political interference appears to have passed for now.

That may be seen as an encouraging precedent for those running the show in Zimbabwe, who have moved into pole position in the African cricket shambles-stakes. Having reportedly failed to secure an emergency loan from the ICC, the ongoing fall-out from the World Cup Qualifier continues. The Rising Stars tour to the UK has been cancelled, senior team players salaries reportedly remain unpayed, managing director Faisal Hasnain has resigned and board chair (and aspiring politician) Tavengwa Mukuhlani faces a million-dollar libel suit from former coach Heath Streak. Though the indulgence the ICC has shown Kenya sets a reassuring precedent (well, reassuring to some), the sight of a full member chairman on the campaign trail is potentially an embarrassing one for the ICC, and if such headlines keep piling up the prospect of a full member suspension may edge from the outlandish toward the merely implausible.

In happier news, the long-awaited debut of Sandeep Lamichhane for the Delhi Daredevils against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday (May 12) saw the young Nepali legspinner become the first Associate player to take the field in the IPL since Chirag Suri's abortive outing as 12th man for Gujarat Lions a year ago. Suri on that occasion was banished back to the sidelines by the umpire, presumably not down on the team-sheet, but Lamichanne's appearance was rather happier. Though AB de Villiers got RCB comfortably home in the end, Lamichhane himself had a cracking debut, opening the bowling, taking the wicket of Parthiv Patel, and giving away just 25 runs from his 4 overs despite bowling 16 of his 24 deliveries either to de Villiers or Virat Kohli. The performance has quieted those who suggested Lamichhane was a gimmick buy for Delhi, much as Rashid Khan silenced similar suggestions in his first IPL season.

On the subject of Associate acquisitions, Safyaan Sharif's excellent World Cup Qualifier for Scotland seems to have drawn the attention of Derbyshire, who have picked him up to join their T20 and 50-over squads for the coming Summer. It's likely that Sharif owes his contract at least in part to a little-noticed outcome at the most recent ICC meeting, namely that the mooted, instituted and then hastily aborted three-year waiting period for Associate internationals to switch to a Full Member has seeming been canned for good. Given the ECB's financially incentivising counties to field England-eligible players, the decision makes Scottish players considerably more attractive to English domestic sides.

Meanwhile Scotland's own domestic season has gotten underway, but looks to have lost the international dimension of years past with the apparent final demise of the North Seas Pro-Series. The ambitious collaboration between Cricket Scotland and the Netherlands' KNCB to set up a combined inter-regional competition seems to have finally succumbed to financial pressure following the end of the ICC's Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme funding, which had kept it afloat until now.

Formerly a genuine inter-regional league with ambitions to expand, as little as two years ago the Dutch and Scots were talking of inviting the Irish provincial sides and possibly even Denmark, Germany or the Channel Islands to participate. The competition was first reduced to a final series between the winners of the Scottish and Dutch pools, and now it seems even that is out of budget. Whilst the Scots have found a sponsor for their expanded regional competition in the form of Tilney Group, the Dutch side of things has atrophied to the point where Seafarers and Hurricanes played their opening fixture last week as a 12-a-side affair, abandoning any pretence that the competition is anything other than a training exercise for national team prospects.

The demise of the competition is a symptom of the wider trends of constricting budgets and tightening belts as ICC funding generally tapers off in what is known as a "fallow year" with limited centrally organised international competition, from which the Dutch especially have suffered. And "fallow" looks an apt description of the coming weeks at least as well for Associates fans, with Scotland's yearly match against England in four weeks' time the next major international on the calendar.

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