Cricket Ireland has a nervous wait but the prize of full test status in one of the worlds wealthiest sports has moved tantalisingly closer.
There was disappointment last month when defeat to the Netherlands cost the men’s team another opportunity to shine in the closing stages of a world tournament but they are already counting down to ways of bouncing back.
In the short term there are two matches at Clontarf against the Sri Lanka team that won the World Twenty20 Cup.
They take place on May 6th and 8th and Cricket Ireland will hope for another sell out after doing the same against Pakistan and England last year.
On the further horizon the prospect of becoming a full test playing nation, the highest level in the game, moved a major step closer yesterday with news from Dubai that the International Cricket Council has sanctioned an effective promotion play off between the top ranked second tier team and the lowest ranked from among the major playing nations.
Ireland have filled the former role four times out of the last six cycles and would hope given the improved structures for domestic and development cricket that they will be so again The ICC Board approved the introduction of an ICC Test Challenge which will take place every four years between the lowest ranked Test team and the winner of the ICC Intercontinental Cup.
It will though be a nerve wracking process. The playoff will only take place on a four year cycle and will be determined by home and away five day test matches. One slip of the bat and it will be a long hard road back to the summit.
The first challenge will be played in 2018, with the associate nation taking part determined by the Intercontinental Challenge Cup running from 2015 to 2017.
Cricket’s main sponsor RSA is likely to stay the distance and it is expected that a number of new commercial partnerships in the sport will be announced in the coming weeks.
