CRICKET:AFTER WRAPPING up a 3-0 whitewash over Kenya, Ireland's senior team are taking a well-deserved break from international cricket after four months on the road. They do so with Ireland back up to 10th in the one-day rankings and having yet again proved their dominance at Associate level by overpowering a fully-professional Kenyan side, writes
EMMET RIORDAN
With progress continuing on the pitch, the news off it that Cricket Ireland had employed the services of Mark Garaway as their first cricket operations director is another considerable boon to the game here.
A part of the England coaching structure for the past three years, Garaway has been tasked with the development of the game at all levels in the country. The 35-year-old’s CV makes for interesting reading, having taken up coaching after finishing his playing career in his mid-20s and going on to act as academy director at both Hampshire and Somerset, before going on to coach the senior team to Twenty20 success in 2005.
His talent was identified by England and he took on the role of analyst under Duncan Fletcher, where his innovative approach included players accessing video analysis through their ipods from a central database.
What’s impressive is that a rising talent such as Garaway sees a job in Irish cricket as commensurate with his ambition in the game and sums up the development at administrative level in a short space of time. You only have to look back two years ago to when international players were far from happy with how the game was been run to realise the giant strides taken. Ireland’s senior team have played close on 40 days of cricket already this year, while the season will run to almost eight months. It’s a seismic leap from the days when the national team would rarely break double figures in games played.
Joe Doherty, Cricket Ireland’s Chair of Cricket, believes Garaway has the drive to push forward the high-performance programme at all levels of the game here. “In my opinion, he has so much to offer and comes to us with the perfect mix – an impressive record of career achievement to date at playing, development, coaching and analysis at high levels, allied to the energy and ambition to go even further. He will bring to this high performance position a blend of youthful enthusiasm, creativity and innovation, all based on a proven platform of technical and administrative ability.
“The responsibility he will be asked to shoulder is a considerable one for the sport here in Ireland in this exciting phase of Cricket Ireland’s growth at home and abroad, but we all believe that Mark is the right man for us at this time and that the time is right for Mark as well.”
Garaway, who takes up the position next month, is looking forward to the challenge that awaits him. “This is a unique chance to have an impact on shaping one of the most exciting emerging nations in the world game, and I am delighted to have been selected for this opportunity.
“The future of Irish cricket looks very bright and with the support of our partners and stakeholders, I am confident we can improve both the quality, and quantity of men and women playing the sport.”
Although he will not have a hands-on coaching role, one of his first tasks could be to pass on a little advice to Phil Simmons ahead of the One-Day International against England at Stormont on August 27th. Hopefully he’ll bring his ipod with him.
