Afridi signs for Ireland

Shahid Afridi has signed for Ireland as their second overseas player as they take part in the new-look C&G Trophy.

He joins his countryman Saqlain Mushtaq after Abdul Razzaq pulled out recently.

Having Afridi up the top of the order will help Ireland greatly, especially if they are unable to call on the services of Eoin Morgan and Niall O’Brien.

The two Pakistanis will also give Ireland a formidable spin attack, but I do wonder where this leaves young Irish leg-spinner Greig Thompson.

ICC announce huge schedule for associates

The ICC have today announced a huge schedule of cricket for six associates with ODI status. (Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland).

Good to see these countries getting a lot more cricket.

Under 19 players to look out for.

Cricinfo have a list of players from the recently concluded Under 19 World Cup to look out for in the future.

Eoin Morgan is the name people on the county circuit could well be hearing a lot from over the next few years. He came fourth in the player of the tournament list, was the second highest run scorer, had the third highest average and the third highest individual score of the tournament.

He currently plays for Middlesex and Ireland, but like county colleague Ed Joyce, it would appear that his future lies with England.

In an interview with the BBC back in November, Morgan indicated that he would like to follow Joyce from Ireland into the England set-up.

This is a problem that also affects Scotland as well as Ireland, and it needs to be sorted out. Joyce has recently made his debut for England A, and so we have the very real possibility that he could have helped Ireland qualify for the World Cup, and then play for another team in the competition itself.

I’ve no problem with players chosing to qualify by residence for another country, but I think that once you have played for one country, that should be it. The best players from Scotland and Ireland are always going to be attracted to the county circuit, but why should England be the ones to benefit from the development clubs are putting into their young players in Scotland and Ireland?