The Ireland cricket team is the cricket team representing all of Ireland. Because of political difficulties, the Irish Cricket Union (ICU) was not elected to the International Cricket Council (ICC) until 1993, and qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2007. The Irish Cricket Union is the governing body of Irish cricket. The Irish cricket team is made up of both professional cricketers and those who earn their living outside the sport. Cricket Ireland, which succeeded the Irish Cricket Union as the sport's governing body in the country, introduced contracts for its players in 2009, and as of the 2011 Cricket World Cup 13 players have full-time contracts.
The first match played by an Irish team was in 1855. Since then, Ireland have gained a reputation for giant-killing. Ireland played their first One Day International (ODI) in 2006 against England. Since then, they have gone on to play 61 ODIs, resulting in 29 victories, 28 defeats, 3 no results, and 1 tie. Highlights in Ireland's cricketing history include beating a touring West Indies side in 1928, 1969, and again in 2004, progressing to the second round of the 2007 World Cup – in which they beat Pakistan and Bangladesh and tied with Zimbabwe – and beating England in the 2011 World Cup.
Ireland take part in the ICC Trophy, the European Cricket Championship (which they have won three times and hold the title of European champions), and the ICC Intercontinental Cup, which they have won consecutively three times since 2005. Until 2009, the team also competed in the Friends Provident Trophy against English counties. Ireland is an Associate member of the ICC; Associates are the next level of team below those that play Test cricket. Due to their successes in the Intercontinental Cup and at the World Cup, they have been labelled the "leading Associate". Ireland is currently one of the teams in Division 1 of Associate Members of International Cricket Council who has One Day International and T20 International status. After the tremendous success at International stage, Cricket Ireland has applied for Full Membership from the International Cricket Council. Ireland have won the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2008 and 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier and qualified for 2009 and 2010 World Twenty20 tournaments, and the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Being a full member will allow Ireland to become a permanent One Day International playing nation and eventually grant them Test status.
Read more about Ireland Cricket Team: Governing Body, Aiming For Test Status, Tournament History, Current Rankings, Current Squad
Famous quotes containing the words ireland, cricket and/or team:
“Out of Ireland have we come,
Great hatred, little room
Maimed us at the start.
I carry from my mother’s womb
A fanatic’s heart.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“Romeo. I dreamt a dream tonight.
Mercutio. And so did I.
Romeo. Well, what was yours?
Mercutio. That dreamers often lie.
Romeo. In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.
Mercutio. O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomi
Over men’s noses as they lie asleep.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)