ANYONE wishing to see Ireland v England at the end of the month will have to buy one of the rapidly dwindling number of tickets, because the game will not be shown on television.
CricketIreland chief executive Warren Deutrom confirmed to the Sunday Tribune yesterday that the Stormont fixture will go ahead without TV coverage.
Under the terms of CI's deal with the ECB, Sky Sports has first option on the game, but the satellite broadcaster had a scheduling problem and has decided instead to show a Pro40 game on 27 August.
BBC Northern Ireland were then offered the rights, but turned them down, while BBC network coverage was briefly considered after Ireland's fine displays at the Twenty20 World Cup.
Deutrom then met RTÉ's deputy head of TV sport, but the 'national broadcaster' made it clear its budget would not allow it to cover the game. RTÉ also passed on the opportunity to show highlights of the Twenty20 World Cup in June, when Ireland qualified for the Super Eight stage. "It's very disappointing that the national terrestrial broadcaster wouldn't take a punt on Ireland", said Deutrom.
It is now 30 years since RTÉ showed a single ball of live cricket, an astonishing famine for a sport that boasts a sizeable and growing number of licence payers among its support.
BBC pondered sending a Test Match Special radio team but that, too, has failed to materialise.
It's all very disheartening to CricketIreland, who need to attract new support and revenue to allow the Ireland team to continue its upward progress.
Tickets for the RSA Challenge are on sale via Ticketmaster, while readers of Inside Edge can win two pairs in a special quiz in next week's Sunday Tribune.
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THERE was speculation last week that the ECB are about to drop the 50 over Friends Provident Trophy in favour of a new competition which could involve a two innings-a-side game of 20/20.
CricketIreland has been consulted by ECB about its plans for 2010, and coach Phil Simmons, operations director Mark Garaway and cricket chairman Joe Doherty are this weekend digesting the document.
There had been reports that ECB were discarding 50 over cricket in anticipation of the ICC dropping the 50 over World Cup after 2011. "That would surprise me," said Warren Deutrom this weekend, "there is a broadcast agreement which covers the 2015 event, and England have been awarded the 2019 World Cup."
While recent stagings of the 50 over cup have drawn criticism over structure and duration, the event is still enormously popular in Asia, where the power lies in the game.
Were international cricket to be reduced to the five day and 20 over formats, it would leave large questions over the future direction at every level from the top down here.
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JACK Lynch wasn't the first leader of this land to excel at sport. The leader of the Irish party at Westminster, Charles Stewart Parnell was a top cricketer as a young man and only gave up the game when his political duties became too time-consuming. His father, John, played at Lord's for Eton and played first-class matches for Cambridge University, before founding the Avondale club.
Tom Hunt, author of a monumental history of sport in Co Westmeath, is speaking about Parnell's sporting interests at this year's Parnell Summer School, which runs from next Sunday at Avondale, Co Wicklow. Hunt's lecture is on Tuesday 11 August at 9.30am.
Further details can be had at www.parnellsociety.com or from Prof Mike Cronin (01 6147450)
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NEW shoots are springing up west of the Shannon, with the formation this season of Sligo CC. More than 20 players have been recruited by Johnny Walshe and they won their first game, against Athlone, by three runs.
The group train every Saturday from 5pm to 7pm at Sligo Sports & Recreation Centre and are on the hunt for a suitable ground.
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THE ever-popular CricketEurope forum last week featured some debate on the merits of Seán Ervine, the former Zimbabwean international now at Hampshire. Ervine carries an Irish passport and left his homeland after a row with the cricket authorities there. At various stages he has stated his desire to play for Australia (dating Geoff Marsh's daughter) and England.
Ervine's two brothers, Ryan and Craig, are professionals with Lisburn and the latter scored 141 v Coleraine in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup. Ryan wrote on the forum last week that Sean told him "he would jump at the chance if he could play for Ireland but he said that there has been no contact from Cricket Ireland." A CI spokesman said contact had been made some time ago.
It would be a blow ? and an insult ? to the development programme to recruit Ervine. The non-native born members of theIrish squad have shown great commitment to the game here and to select a carpetbagger would be a backward step.
Every time Ireland notched a scalp in recent years the likes of Mike Atherton and Jim Maxwell gripe about 'Aussie-Irishmen'. To select Ervine would add fuel to their fatuous arguments.
FIXTURES
Monday: Section A: Leinster v The Hills, Pembroke v Clontarf, Section B: CYM v Phoeni
Saturday: Irish Senior Cup semi-finals: Leinster v Limavady, Donemana v Pembroke; Section A: The Hills v Railway Union; Section B: Rush v Phoenix, YMCA v Old Belvedere
gsiggins@tribune.ie