Just what will Mark Waugh's fleeting visit to this country next month do for the promotion and development of Irish cricket, one may ask? The answer is little or nothing, apart from hopefully attracting a good few spectators to Castle Avenue; for given the demolition job meted out by England in the first Test, the Zimbabweans seem unlikely to draw the punters in great numbers off their own bats, as it were.
Talk about corporate hospitality tents and the like at the two one-day matches may provide other, rather more commercial, reasons for the presence of the Australian Test star, for he who pays the piper most assuredly calls the tune. Waugh follows in the footsteps of Jonty Rhodes last year, his own brother Steve the previous summer and Hansie Cronje in 1997.
In terms of promoting the game in Ireland, the visit of Rhodes was about as useful as the proverbial cat-flap on a submarine. Even his own playing form was not particularly inspired and in the matches against the South Africa Academy side, he socialised more with his fellow countrymen than with his Ireland team-mates.
Steve Waugh seemed to fit in better than that, possibly because of the natural easy-going nature of many Australians. Hansie Cronje certainly did the business for Ireland in the defeat of Middlesex in the 1997 NatWest match at Castle Avenue, but given the current revelations and controversy which surrounds him, he is hardly the perfect role model for young cricketers.
The sojourns in Ireland of all these stars were sponsored by a certain major newspaper group, which is backing the visit of Mark Waugh, as well, so there is no cost to the Irish Cricket Union (ICU). But has the presence of the stars generated additional media exposure or drummed up extra interest in Irish cricket among the uninitiated? I think not.
And what have the visiting Test stars done for the national team? Very little, is the opinion of one player close to the international scene.
"It's great to play with them, they give off good vibes, and they tell you how to play cricket, but at the end of the day it really doesn't do anything other than promote the game", this player says. And that promotional bit is arguable, in my own view; the visiting star is wheeled out to meet existing sponsors and potential sponsors, but since there has been no marked increase in the commercial backing of Irish cricket since Cronje was here, that particular argument looks a bit of a dead duck.
In the opinion of the player mentioned above, the concept of an annual visit to Ireland of a cricketing star is fuelled by Dr Ali Bacher who, after his own fact-finding mission here a few years back, seems to be genuinely convinced that Ireland can achieve one-day international status. "Bacher promotes Irish cricket by getting sponsorship to send these guys over, and it's that or nothing, and we don't have any control over it", says the player.
But, in his opinion, the visits of the superstars could be better utilised. "The visiting player should be seen by more and more of the game's ordinary Joe Soaps, and cricket would be better promoted that way," the player says.
The trouble is that Mark Waugh, like those who have come to Ireland before him, will be utilised almost entirely by the commercial sponsor who is responsible for bringing him here, in the first place. And that activity entails corporate hospitality occasions, meeting captains of industry, personal appearances and so on, all of which does infinitely more for the commercial backer in question than it does for Irish cricket.
Which leaves the ICU in something of a dilemma. For to look a gift horse - even if the horse in question isn't going to do very much in the way of any really constructive work - would be to risk alienating Dr Bacher, whose goodwill is certainly going to be essential if that one-day international status is ever going to be attained.
One essential step towards that eventual goal will be to qualify in the ICC tournament in Canada next year for the World Cup in 2003. No visiting firemen or no hired player/coach can help Ireland here - success depends on the players, and in turn, their ability and stomach for what will be a gruelling campaign depends on national coach Ken Rutherford, who has taken on a major challenge.
The sponsors and the spectators no doubt will enjoy watching Mark Waugh, truly one of the game's brightest stars, playing for Ireland at Castle Avenue. But in realistic terms, all he will be really doing is keeping an Irish player out of the national side, in two competitive matches which will be vital in the build-up to next year's qualifying tournament in Canada.
Andy Patterson has cried off the Ireland team to meet the MCC in the annual three-day match which begins at Eglinton this morning because of his Sussex commitments. His place has gone to Ryan Haire (North Down). Stephen Warke, the former Ireland captain, is a member of the MCC side, which starts this morning at 11.00.
IRELAND: K McCallan (Cliftonville, capt), B Archer (The Hills), G Brophy (Cliftonville/Free State), O Butler (Old Belvedere), G Cooke (Brigade), P Davy (Pembroke), M Dwyer (The Hills), P Gillespi e (Strabane), R Haire (North Down), D Heasley (Lisburn), P Mooney (North County). 12th man: A McCoubrey (Ballymena).
MCC: T Pigott (Sussex/Surrey, capt), J Gray (Cheshire), S Warke (Woodvale), K Sedgbeer (Somerset), S Mohammed (Warwickshire), I Wrigglesworth (Victoria), K Williams (Trinidad/Tobago), J Batty (Yorkshire), D Kruls (Griqualand West), D Lees (Werneth CC), C Metson (Glamorgan).
