He more then likely wishes to play test cricket.And the likelyhood of Ireland playing test cricket in the next 5 to 10 years in none existant..Unless you want him not to? India could do with some decent bowlers maybe you could try for him?..

Rankin's chances of international cricket with England are very slim. At present he's no more than 15th in the pecking order, if that.

You almost make it sound like the ecb have secret agents, sent to Ireland in an undercover mission to kidnapp and brainwash all of their cricketing talent. The big bad wolf we are.

A mixture of European and British employment and citizenship laws have created this scenario, as well as the UK's unique relationship with Ireland.

Anyhow who is looting him? I doubt anyone from the ecb sent him a fax and saying come and join us

Today on a helpful wicket he took 1 for 43 off 13 overs. Woakes 7 for 20 off 14.4 overs.

Give them Shehzad in exchange.

What the heck, I am in a generous mood, give them Plunkett as well as for 2-for-1 deal.

Shahzad> Rankin> Plunkett

He won't ever play for England. County game is in great shape full of English youngsters.

I think that the ICC should consider giving Ireland test status, they've got some decent players.

Boyd Rankin was born in Northern Ireland, which is officially part of the United Kingdom, not of 'Ireland'.

I think that the ICC should consider giving Ireland test status, they've got some decent players.

............

Problem with that Jezzer is we will all get even more one sided test matches than we get already. With Bang and Zim struggling against anyone other than themselves we will have an even fuller test calender, with even more pointless tests. Also i don't think Ireland helped their cause by turning down the chance to play one day cricket in the English league, why would they turn that down if they want to become a fully fledged international side. They simpy don;t have the first class structure to be considered for test status, or for that matter, the players

Test Matches between Zimbabwe Bangladesh and Ireland might be entertaining in a league type format.

The winner of each years league would earn the right to play against a top side.

Just brainstorming, but there are so many ways that test Cricket could be spiced up.

I do agree to an extent haza, however do test matches between say Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland spice test cricket up ? to me it's a bad advert for the game.

Why not have 'test' matches between the likes of Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands, Afghanistan etc. and the 'A' teams of the 'big' nations?
Gives the smaller teams more experience and a better chance of winning. Allows the bigger teams to blood new players in 'test' match conditions.

I guess that takes us back to the two league argument, which i don't have a problem with. However i do think the idea of introducing 'A' teams into a second divison would be a good idea. Although hard to only allow 'big' teams the chance as it would give a huge advantage to those countries in terms of bringing in new players in to the team

bai ranjiv....with a name like that he should be playing for you know who

Have test matches between these nations, But play them over 4 days rather then 5.The better team will score quicker and bowl better to gain a result.

huge risk for rankin to be taking here , he will be well down the pecking order for a place with england and will be unable to represent ireland

for those having a go at the ECB here , one simple question, why would the ECB "loot" him from ireland when we have such strength in depth in seam bowling and have absolutely no need for him

if you are looking to blame someone for the potential impact on irish cricket why not blame the players themselves, they are the ones turning their backs on ireland in the hope they will be successful on a bigger stage

England don't want Rankin, instead they must be tempted by Paul Stirling.

why ?

hes only played 9 FC matches and averages 25 , not exactly earth-shattering

Rich i was talking more in the one dayers where recently he has scored 2 tons against Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a T20 strike rate.

i doubt very much he would turn his back on ireland just to play ODIs , and hes nowhere near a test place

and when will people get this into their heads

the ECB are not poaching players from ireland , the decision is and has to be made by the individual himself and he has to accept all the risk associated with that decision

I know this is embarrassing for you poms but do stay on topic.Leagues and blah.

They should change the rules to -once you play for a country , stay put.This is a simple solution.

What england are doing now is snatching a toddler after all the potty training by their catholic momma.

Pox is exaggerating again