Ireland Cricket Team - Governing Body

Governing Body

The Irish Cricket Union (ICU) – the governing body of Irish cricket – was officially founded in 1923, although its predecessor had been active since 1890.

In common with a number of other Ireland sporting governing bodies, the Union was formed to represent cricket throughout the island of Ireland, rather than just the Republic of Ireland and in common with its counterparts for rugby union and field hockey, the Union therefore does not use the Irish tricolor, but instead employs its own flag, which is used by such bodies as the International Cricket Council to represent the team and in ICC tournaments, Ireland's Calll is used as the national anthem.ant In 2007, it announced major changes to bring it in-line with the main cricket governing bodies. After the World Cup, Irish cricket experienced a dip in success with poor results in the 2007 Friends Provident Trophy as many players were unavailable. The Irish cricket team was – and still is – an amateur side and most of the players had full-time jobs with commitments conflicting with cricket. After the World Cup there were delays in paying the players which resulted in them ignoring the press in protest to their treatment after an Intercontinental Cup match against Kenya.

Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of the ICU, has stated that it wants to "seek actively to place Irish players into top-level cricket, by developing relationships with county cricket which will incorporate appropriate player release for Irish international duty, and feeder systems for developing Irish cricketers". The reorganised ICU sought closer links with the English county teams, encourage the development of age group cricket, and to introduce a professional element into the Irish game. They also want to take the Ireland cricket team on winter tours more often.

In an attempt to prevent the game losing players to counties or other commitments such as jobs, it was suggested that central contracts should be introduced. They were introduced in June 2009, with the first three going to Trent Johnston and Alex Cusack. The number of full-time contracts was expanded to six in January 2010 with support for a further nine players; the contracts were split into three categories. In January 2012 the number of contracts was increased to 23, and coach Phil Simmons highlighted the process of becoming professional as an important factor in the team's success.

Deutrom has commented that it is difficult for Ireland to become a Test team as Ireland have not received guidance on how it can be achieved. In June 2009, shortly before the start of the 2009 ICC Twenty20 World Cup in which Ireland defeated Bangladesh to progress to the second round of the tournament, he said "Ireland has proved itself head and shoulders above the rest of the associate nations. Yet we are bumping up against a glass ceiling".