Ireland take on the United States in Florida tomorrow, renewing one of their oldest relationships. The first games were in 1879 when a series was shared between the Irish tourists and Philadelphia who were the powerhouse of the American game.
Over the next 30 years the sides met 12 times with just one win for Ireland, in 1892.
The two national sides have met six times in T20s since 2010, Ireland winning the first five but losing their last meeting by 26 runs in December 2021.
The same Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill was the venue 2½ years ago. The scheduled six games were reduced to two when Covid struck.
That was the series when the illness forced Ireland to bat Lorcan Tucker at No 3, which turned out a notable success. The Pembroke wicket-keeper scored back-to-back fifties, including a career-best 84 in a nine-run win.
Tucker had entered that series with just 166 runs at an average of 10.37 and a high score of 22no. Since then he has added 1,152, averaging 25.60 and has scored nine fifties.
The US have proved a dangerous side in this tournament with wins over Canada and Pakistan and, despite their defeat to India yesterday, they showed how potent they can be, removing Virat Kohli first ball and making the Indians work hard for their victory.
The man who sent Kohli packing was their tall left-arm quick Saurabh Netravalkar, who took 2-18 in his four overs.
Netravalkar actually played for India U19s in the 2009/10 World Cup, and although Ireland were in the other half of the draw he played against Graham Hume, then playing for South Africa.
The rangy Mumbai bowler was good enough to dismiss Joe Root twice in that tournament in which he was India’s leading wicket-taker.
His state career in India petered out at 23 and Netravalkar headed Stateside. Within four years he had become a regular for the US.
‘Cricket was over for me. I had no hope or expectation left to play again,’ he said. ‘I was in two minds. Should I pursue cricket or concentrate on studies?’
He entered Cornell in 2015 and earned a degree in computer science. At the university in upstate New York, Netravalkar noticed some students playing cricket and joined in, setting him on the path to representing his new nation.
With his degree, Netravalkar headed for California to work for Oracle and play club games at weekend. ‘San Francisco still doesn’t have proper pitches,’ he said. ‘They play on an artificial pitch that’s more like a synthetic mat. But they had soil pitches in a park in Los Angeles – it’s like the Maidan in Mumbai.’
Every Friday he would leave work, drive for six hours to Los Angeles to play the next day before heading back to play in San Francisco on Sunday.
‘In LA there were three to four players who were part of the American team, it was then I got to know that America had a cricket team. On long weekends, they organised tournaments in the country, mostly in Florida, where even players from the West Indies would participate.’
When the ICC loosened eligibility rules in 2018 Netravalkar was selected to play for the US.
All the players have day jobs, and many have families, so practice is difficult, compounded by the fact that players live thousands of miles apart. Tournaments give them a chance to get together.
Recent investment has helped, as seen on the field at this tournament: ‘Major league and minor league made a huge difference because they gave us a chance to play with top players. There are better grounds being made and pitches are improving,’ says Netravalkar.
The Eagles have certainly soared, winning eight of their last ten games, with wins over Pakistan, Bangladesh (twice) and Canada (five times). Ireland will be tested in Lauderhill tomorrow.