Back in 2007, the Ireland cricket team pulled off one of the most miraculous upsets in the history of associate nations. They bowled Pakistan out for a paltry 132 at Sabina Park in the World Cup and easily chased down the target.
Trent Johnston, the then Irish captain, had fired up the side by remaining the players the stakes involved if they lost: they would have to return to their mundane jobs as farmers, postmen, and teachers. "I sure as hell don't want to go back and sell fabric," he told his team, as recorded in Batmen - The Story of Irish Cricket.
Fast forward to 2016 and Ireland have, after a disastrous campaign, failed to even qualify for the World T20 2016. The qualifiers saw Ireland register losses to Hong Kong, Papa New Guinea, Netherlands, UAE and even Oman.
As humbling and confounding as these defeats might apparently seem to be, there is a deeper reason for Ireland's failure here. Ireland's story so far has been that of relentless striving towards attaining Test status in the face of tiring, aspirational players and quixotic decision-making by the ICC.
"We did neglect T20, not through wish, but through resources and prioritising. Yes, we're probably paying the price for that now," admits Cricket Ireland performance director Richard Holdsworth. "Our goal of Test cricket is still very much the primacy of the organisation."
While associate nations like Afghanistan have taken the world by storm after their performances in the World T20 2016, it is still a long shot for them when it comes to playing Test cricket. While Ireland have stubbornly stuck to fighting for a Test status, newer associate nations have made a name for themselves by excelling in the world of T20 cricket.
Even Ireland's head coach John Bracewell is mindful of that when he says: "A number of associates see T20 as their only opportunity to get to the world stage, and so are really concentrating and focusing their resources into that format."
The glorious years
2007 marked the arrival of Ireland on the big stage. Playing their inaugural world cup, Ireland with the O'Briens, Porterfield, Boyd Rankin, Johnstone, Mooney and Joyce was a team to watch out for. They played fearless cricket, won hearts and became the new poster boys. They exceeded expectations and returned home to a heroes' welcome.
The ICC had quite accidentally chosen to make Ireland an Associate member back in 1993. It was a kind of romantic, inexplicable move that can perhaps be best explained by the undone Irish love for sport.
James Joyce in The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man had written: "In the soft grey silence he could hear the bump of the balls: and from here and from there through the quiet air the sound of the cricket bats: pick, pack, pock, puck: like drops of water in a fountain falling softly in the brimming bowl."
Irish greats like Colin Farrell, Samuel Beckett and even Jedward had all played cricket in Ireland. The legendary WG Grace had visited Ireland quite a few times one of the most notable occasions being in 1902 when his London County side was beaten by Ireland who were making their first-class debut.
If the World Cup in 2007 had been good for Ireland, 2011 was even more magical. When Kevin O'Brien walked in against England in the World Cup with his team at 106 for 4, no one foresaw the carnage that was to follow. Ireland needed 222 off the next 27.4 overs and just about every cricket pundit had written them off by then.
O'Brien clearly had other ideas. He embarked on a carnage like cricket had never seen -- 113 off 63 balls to chase down a ridiculously impossible target of 327. The record for the highest successful run-chase was firmly registered against their name. India went on to win the World Cup but right then, Ireland's was the story to write about.
Aspiring for Test status
Just when Ireland might have been dreaming about a more secure future through rose-tinted glasses, disaster struck. Even after Ireland had pulled off that impossible run-chase, ICC ended up announcing that only Test-playing nations would feature in the next World Cup. The decision was met with vehement opposition from the associates and was later partially revoked. But it was enough to mar the spirit of temporary success.
In any case, Ireland were pushing hard to attain Test-playing status. Fiercely ambitious with utmost respect for the grand tradition of the game, Test cricket was what the Irish cricketers aspired to play.
"I often have dreams, going to bed, of playing Test cricket at Lords. So hopefully that dream will become a reality," Niall O'Brien had told CricketEurope.
Their aspiration was met with widespread approval including that of former cricketing greats who believed that the first step that the ICC should take to save Test cricket would be to include teams like Ireland.
Speaking to All Out Cricket, Jason Gillespie had said, "One fantastic way to give Test cricket a lift straight away would be to give Ireland Test status," said Gillespie.
"It is something that should happen sooner rather than later from the ICC. Imagine if Ireland were given Test status. That would be huge news in world cricket, and it would be a massive positive story for the world game. The ICC and all the national boards talk a lot about the importance of protecting the integrity of Test cricket. If it is that important, then we should look to improve it, and in my view including Ireland would improve it."
"Ireland are ticking all the boxes. They've punched well above their weight in limited-overs tournaments," added Gillespie. Think of the list of names who've plied their trade in English domestic cricket and who have even played for England. It would make a decent Test side."
Their push for full membership and the Test status was fuelled by a hugely ambitious chief executive, Warren Deutrom, who was prepared to undergo the rigorous processes and not lose hope.
"There's a long way to go," Deutrom told Cricinfo's Switch Hit podcast. "Traditionally, applications have taken two, three or more years. There are clearly a large number of hoops we have to jump through. In terms of challenges that are facing us, yes, there is clearly an awful lot of work we need to do just to fulfill the compliance and existing criteria.
"It perhaps sets in motion a process that allows others to see the levels they need to reach in order to fulfill the same ambitions. It shouldn't be easy. Test cricket is regarded as the pinnacle of the game and it's quite right that those trying to ascend to Test cricket, or just Full Membership without necessarily involving Test cricket, have to ensure that they are coming up to some pretty rigorous criteria."
Uphill struggles
The so-called rigorous criteria was, however, a polite euphemism for the ICC's refusal to expand cricket to include more global members. Ironically, when Ireland were striving for Test status, the ICC saw no realistic profit in including an 11th Test playing nation at a time when Test cricket was dying a slow but undeniable death.
Cash-strapped and fighting a losing battle to gain Test status, interest in cricket dwindled in Ireland in favour of Gaelic football, hurling and rugby. The situation got so worse that in 2009, when Ireland played England, they failed to get a single broadcaster.
Regretting the lack of interest Deutrom said, "We had television for our game in 2006 when Ireland played England and in 2007 when India and South Africa were here. We didn't get a broadcaster for 2009. I think there were some financial problems involved in that.
"I think the problem by and large, from what broadcasters say to me, is that they don't like to do deals on a one-by-one basis. They prefer to package things up. If we were in a situation whereby we were embedded in the Future Tours Programme, then we would have sufficient home cricket to be able to go out and talk to another broadcaster."
With very few bilateral matches and almost no broadcasting, Ireland's plight is the same as that of any associate nation. The spotlight shifts away from them whenever an ICC event is over and with not enough matches in between with no proper broadcasting, they slip in and out of anonymity. Teams like Kenya and Namibia have followed a similar trajectory so far.
The step-motherly attitude of the ICC towards the associate nations does not help much. With the bulk of the revenue generated being snapped up by India, England, and Australia, the big three end up controlling cricket with no desire of a global expansion. Ireland, for instance, received a meagre US$ 3 million from the ICC in 2015-16.
Exodus of talented players
With a lack of encouragement, fiercely ambitious Irish players who wanted to play Test cricket at the danger of slipping into perpetual anonymity started joining England. In Morgan, Joyce, and Rankin - Joyce and Rankin would later come back - Ireland lost three of their best players to England.
This led to aggressive campaigning among the Irish fans to stop the exodus with some passionate people even blaming the ECB for not doing enough. It even became a running joke - no one knows how authentic the claims are - that the ECB has a lot to benefit by siphoning off Irish players and therefore does not want Ireland to attain the full member status.
England captain Eoin Morgan has, quite outrageously for the Irish fans, asked young Ireland players to follow his example and join the England team. “If you have a young, ambitious guy who wants to play Test cricket, he’s going to look elsewhere. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the nature of playing cricket in Ireland and for Ireland," he said.
“I think it certainly has changed since I made my decision to go and play cricket for England, but the main factor in deciding whether your aspirations are there is Test match cricket."
Deutrom is fully conscious of the challenge that Ireland are facing to hold on to some of their best players. "If you think about the reasons why (players) are going (to England), it's because they want to be as good as they can be," he said.
"They want to be able to find the vehicles and the forums to be able to express their abilities. In that way, we need to make sure that our players are aware of our ambitions. If we just happen to bump along as an associate and say, 'We're the No.1 associate now, that's all we're going to be forever,' I think we're going to lose more and more players.
"Our ambitions are surely to make sure that cricket is as successful as possible in Ireland ... and to that extent, we need to make sure that our players are aware that that is exactly where we're going.
"Even if it's obviously too late for the likes of Eoin Morgan and Ed Joyce, what we're saying to the next rung of Irish players coming through is: we are ambitious, we are interested in going for Full Membership but it may take some time, and we are doing our very best to put in a contract system that allows you to consider playing cricket as a career in Ireland in the same way as you might want to play cricket for England and to complement your county career."
The road ahead
But amidst the chaos, Ireland have intensified their bid to attain the Test status. Eighteen players were handed out full-time contracts with ten of them being contracted now for the next two years. This was to keep the players secure and focussed on the InterContinental Cup.
"Our InterContinental Cup campaign – the pathway to Test cricket – has another 21 months to run and ensuring the availability of our top players was our rationale for offering a number of two-year contracts this time around," Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth said.
"Ed Joyce was offered two years but is keen to decide on his future career before committing longer-term which we entirely understand. He remains an integral part of the Ireland team, and is fully committed to our ambition of becoming the next Test nation," Holdsworth added.
"We have an extremely competitive and hungry group of players now with a well-balanced age profile and experience. With only 18 contracted at this stage, there will be strong competition for places in squads across the three formats while we have cover should players pick up injuries."
Ireland have a good record in the InterContinental Cup having won it four times and they sit at the top of the table at the moment with 60 points. The side that wins the eight-team round-robin format of the InterContinental Cup will have to defeat the 10th ranked Test team in the four-match ICC Test Challenge in 2018 to become the 11th Test playing nation.
Ireland are taking slow but sure steps to achieving their dream now. Cruel policy-making by the ICC, a cash-strapped cricket board, lack of matches or broadcasting interest and a mass exodus of players have compounded the magnitude of their recent struggles.
The collateral damages have been felt in the form of a disastrous qualification campaign for the World T20 2016. Attainment of Test playing status will be their only redemption which will validate their life-long struggle towards one dream.
The beauty and impossibility of their dream - to see them walk out in all whites to represent their own country someday - has governed them for far too long. The death of that dream, like Joyce's 'drops of water in a fountain', might put a permanent end to Ireland's cricketing ambitions.
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