The Irish Cricket team is the latest to feature in the Irish Sports Council ‘Journey’ series aimed at highlighting the work that goes into preparation of elite sports stars in order to peak on the right occasion.
We are also pleased to announce that the launch of the new video this week also coincides with Cricket Ireland’s coming on board as the latest full member of Sport for Business.
The Irish team has just completed a successful trip to Sharjah where two wins against the United Arab Emirates in the World Cricket League has left them seven points clear in the tournament to determine the best of the second tier teams in world cricket.
They are now only two results away from automatic qualification for the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Failure to qualify for the same tournament in 2001 left Ireland ranked eighth at this level and 18th overall in the world but only six years later they had climbed to 10th, famously beaten the West Indies and Pakistan and had won a substantial following among fans for whom cricket was never more than a footnote in their sporting interests.
Today the sport is well established at international level and has perhaps the most ambitious development plan of any sport in the country with domestic tournaments being developed, youth structures advanced and facilities upgraded across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The sport is well run and sharply aware of commercial partnerships.  RSA Insurance is the primary sponsor at most levels through the game and Toyota have recently come on as official vehicle sponsors, echoing the same partnership they have with Cricket Australia.
The highlighted page in the about us section of the Cricket Ireland website is one dedicated to the commercial opportunities which are available to commercial partners looking to tap into the fast growing sport.
We wrote recently about the thinking and execution behind the Journey series of videos, the first of which featured Katie Taylor.  A preview of the Cricket Ireland video can be seen below and this will be followed over the next two months by ones on Modern pentathlon Paralympic Swimming and Sailing.

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