500 set to make Cricket World Cup trip

FORGET the club hurling finals in Croke Park this St Patrick’s Day, the stick sport with unique appeal will be in Jamaica, where Ireland will play in their first ever ICC Cricket World Cup.

The Irish Cricket Union is expecting in excess of 500 people to travel to the Caribbean for the two warm-up matches and group games against Zimbabwe, Pakistan and the West Indies.

It is expected the novelty aspect will swell interest from the ex-pat communities in America.

Secretary of the Irish Cricket Union John Wright said: “The Jamaicans are looking to bring an Irish cultural element to the opening ceremony, so we have spoken with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann about trying to get a group over there to play at that and again on St Patrick’s Day for the Pakistan game,” he said.

The task of getting to the islands has been taken on by a number of travel operators. Cork-based Caribbean Collections has been offering a two-week package with flights, accommodation and transfers to the three group games for €2,094, and it is set to launch a nine-day option peaking at the March 17 game.

Its owner, Peter Conway, said that even though cricket is a minority sport, the pick-up has been steady.

“At the moment it has been mostly cricket supporters but we will be bringing out shorter packages for people with a broader interest,” he said.

Cricket experts rate Ireland’s chances of progressing beyond the Paddy’s Day party as akin to those of the Jamaican bobsleigh team but the team are taking it seriously. Three of the Northern Irish competitors have been granted a six-month leave of absence from work to train for the contest.

The event kicks off on March 5 when Ireland play South Africa in a warm up match and their first group game is 10 days later against Zimbabwe.