Afghanistan and Ireland gain test status

[The_Reaper]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/1105347.html

Afghanistan and Ireland have been approved as Full Members by the ICC, meaning they have become cricket's 11th and 12th Test-playing nations. This was signed off on by the ICC Board in London on Thursday, during the ICC's AGM.

Great news.

 

[whats_at_stake]

Great news! Manohar will leave a great legacy. Unravelled the big 3, test status and a raft of measures.

 

[spookism]

Great stuff.
Hopefully their first test is against each other

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Can't wait to never go to a match in Kabul!

 

[Marshland]

The second tier is now clearly Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe - and perhaps Sri Lanka as well.

 

[Hellgood]

Great news and a testament to the hard work that the players and administrators have done over the best part of a decade. Hope the stalwarts get a chance to experience test cricket, but guess there will be some hard luck stories. In the end though they can look back with a hell of a lot of pride in helping them get there.

The second tier is now clearly Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe - and perhaps Sri Lanka as well.

Sri Lanka - you've got a very short memory.

 

[boncer34]

Great.

2 more teams we'll never play in Test cricket.

 

[SportsCentre]

Ireland have been waiting for as long as I can remember, but Afghanistan seems quick.
They only played in their first world cup in 2015.

 

[PhatBoy]

The second tier is now clearly Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe - and perhaps Sri Lanka as well.

The side who hammered Australia 3-0 with one veteran and a team of kids?


This is great news. Really good initiative shown.

 

[PhatBoy]

Great.

2 more teams we'll never play in Test cricket.

Probably for the best given that they have possibly the best leggie in the world.

 

[HBF]

Terrific news.

 

[Sammo360]

The second tier is now clearly Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe - and perhaps Sri Lanka as well.

West Indies relegated?

Fantastic news for Afghanistan and Ireland.

 

[Yellowperil]

This is great news. Test cricket is a hard slog for weak teams, there's much less chance of fluking a win unlike 20/20 and one dayers. But I'm looking forward to the day that one of these 2 teams takes out England at Lords. Talk about a Disney movie moment!

 

[The_Reaper]

Great.

2 more teams we'll never play in Test cricket.

We'll probably play Ireland every Ashes in England.

Full strength Irish side in an actual test series be better warmup than some second division county 2nd XI.

 

[DT_fanatic]

Great news and thoroughly deserved.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Milang_Panthers]

Great news! Not that we'll play them very often but its the next step in their growth.

 

[Hellgood]

Great news! Not that we'll play them very often but its the next step in their growth.

Increase in funding should make a big difference in accelerating their development.

 

[Cochblocked]

Great day for Cricket, i'm sure they will get a few one off tests next year (Ireland vs England at Lords) (Afghanistan vs India) but once the test championship takes effect in 2019 i doubt they will get many tests besides Zimbabwe and themselves. Probably greater news is the ODI league as their guaranteed matches against the top 8 teams both home and away along with Netherlands or Scotland.

 

[eth-dog]

The second tier is now clearly Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe - and perhaps Sri Lanka as well.

Two, maybe three of the teams you listed there are better than the West Indies.

Anyone wanna give each team a crack at the best XI? I assume most of the Irish 35-36 year olds are still kicking around like Mooney and the O'Brien's

 

[Kapow!!!]

Great news. Thoroughly deserved for both nations and all round great for the game as a whole.

I know their's cynicism as to whether Australia would play Afghanistan (Ireland probably to host a couple of tests against us before the Ashes every non-world cup ashes) but I would dearly love to see even a top end home series and a reciprocated 2 test series in India against them.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

We'll probably play Ireland every Ashes in England.

Full strength Irish side in an actual test series be better warmup than some second division county 2nd XI.

Ireland probably to host a couple of tests against us before the Ashes every non-world cup ashes

Unlikely. We only play 4 Test match series in India. Can't see CA adding 1 or 2 against Ireland onto a 5 match Ashes series.

 

[PhatBoy]

Two, maybe three of the teams you listed there are better than the West Indies.

Anyone wanna give each team a crack at the best XI? I assume most of the Irish 35-36 year olds are still kicking around like Mooney and the O'Brien's

Sri Lanka.

Who else?

Is another of those teams capable of beating Pakistan in an away test?
With Gabriel, Joseph and Holder in their attack I think they'd be too good for Ireland in Ireland, and as bad as they have generally been in test cricket, they've had relatively little trouble winning and drawing matches at home against most sides.

 

[eth-dog]

Sri Lanka.

Who else?

Is another of those teams capable of beating Pakistan in an away test?
With Gabriel, Joseph and Holder in their attack I think they'd be too good for Ireland in Ireland, and as bad as they have generally been in test cricket, they've had relatively little trouble winning and drawing matches at home against most sides.

Bangladesh is better. Maybe Afghanistan, as I rate their attack very highly.

 

[The_Reaper]

Unlikely. We only play 4 Test match series in India. Can't see CA adding 1 or 2 against Ireland onto a 5 match Ashes series.

You don't think CA would see more value in playing a full strength Ireland as a warm up then against Essex 2nd XI?

 

[Bomberboyokay]

You don't think CA would see more value in playing a full strength Ireland as a warm up then against Essex 2nd XI?

No.