Aussie blasts Irish 'joke' team

[King]

IRELAND cricket officials hit back overnight after being branded a "joke" by Australia-born batsman Jermey Bray. More... Aussie blasts Irish 'joke' team From correspondents in Belfast June 26, 2007 IRELAND cricket officials hit back overnight after being branded a "joke" by Australia-born batsman Jermey Bray. Bray, who scored a century in Ireland's thrilling World Cup tie with Zimbabwe in Jamaica, and then helped the amateur side eliminate Pakistan in the shock of the tournament, launched his broadside at the Irish Cricket Union (ICU) in a weekend newspaper interview. He has since made himself unavailable for his adopted country, saying it costs him money to play for Ireland, and didn't feature in last weekend's one-day international defeats by India and South Africa in Belfast. But ICU officials insist they are as keen as their players to usher in a fully professional era. Chief executive Warren Deutrom said he sympathises with Bray, but pleaded for patience until the end of this week's three-match India-South Africa one-day series in Belfast. "The fundamental issue is that we can't complete and finalise the contracts for the players until we know we are able to satisfy what they are requesting in terms of additional monies," he said in a statement. "We can't do that until we know how much of a budget we have, and we won't know that until this current series of games is completed. "It's a vicious circle." Deutrom added: "Do we want to be able to pay the players? Absolutely, of course we do, and it's the fundamental route to success. "I understand there's a significant degree of frustration among the players, and I completely understand that. "We have met with the players on a number of occasions, and will continue to do so. We're keeping the communications lines to them open at all stages."

[King]

Ireland has the potential I reckon after having seen them play. Despite missing their 6 top players they did compete in the last couple of games. I think Ireland deserves more international games than say Zimbabwe.

[suma25]

the headline kuch aur aur article kuch aur hi hain..he never blasted the irish team ..just the officials...neways they played well against southafrica...alexcusack is a good find for them...

[Gambit]

Rankin is their most impressive player. Uses his height to good advantage.