The Board of Cricket Ireland says it plans to 'swiftly' review the country's performance at the T20 Cricket World Cup.
Ireland exited the tournament in Abu Dhabi in disappointing fashion, losing out to Sri Lanka and Namibia following an encouraging win over the Netherlands in their first group game.
In a statement released today, the board outlined its intention to hold the normal post-event review 'as quickly as possible'.
They say an 'in-depth' discussion was held on the World Cup performance - as well as other items on the agenda.
Amongst Cricket Ireland's priorities going forward will be facilities across the country.
“The Board of Cricket Ireland - in line with what could be reasonably described as the general mood of the Irish cricket community - expressed our disappointment at the timing and nature of the World Cup exit last Friday," chairperson Ross McCollum said.
"Whilst there were no doubts expressed about the attitude, commitment and hard work of players, coaching staff and administrators, the Board has directed that the normal planned post-event review should happen as quickly as possible and includes all elements pertaining to tournament preparation and performance – such as event performance and cricket operations supporting the international set-up – and, where appropriate, take any remedial action.
“It is important to stress that this is not a kneejerk reaction to the T20 World Cup outcome, particularly in light of encouraging results against some major teams in the last two years alone.
"Post-event reviews are part-and-parcel of our modus operandi now, added to which one of the key elements of our current short strategy period is about ensuring we are getting the most out of our limited resources, that we’re balancing the needs of our business at all levels, and we’re building the future on solid foundations.
“What happened last week, though, has given us the pretext to step back at this point in time to ask serious questions of our operations ahead of a very busy few years. The Board recognises that our regular treadmill of events, qualifiers, and FTP commitments means that there is rarely an obvious time to do in-depth reviews, let alone implement them quickly enough to have an immediate impact.
"However, with the next round of World Cup Super League matches coming up in January, and the qualifying tournament for the next Men’s T20 World Cup scheduled for February, we believe that the review should be conducted swiftly without compromising rigour."
They say the review will include an investigation into the preparation period for the World Cup, analysis of the performance at the tournament and look at the quality of cricket facilities in use in Ireland.
Selection policies and procedures, as well as coaching structures and the administrative side of the operation, will also come under the microscope.
McCollum added that "this is a similar review that was conducted after the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2018 which brought about significant improvements to the Women’s performance system, and we are looking to ensure a similar level of scrutiny is applied during this review."
