Ireland is associated with many things, chiefly craic, Guinness and, err, potatoes. Well, definitely craic and Guinness. Cricket, not so much. Fans of the sport will be relatively familiar with Ireland playing in white-ball cricket. They have played in the World Cup three times, as well as appearing in the T20 World Cup on nine occasions.
Perhaps their greatest ever player, Eoin Morgan, captained England to victory in the 2019 World Cup. That, however, is a different story altogether. But, whilst they play one-day cricket, like many other nations around the world, fewer people will be aware that Ireland also play Test cricket.
On the 27th of May they began a Test (albeit a four-day one – again, that’s a separate discussion) against New Zealand. So, with the Irish involved in the longer format of the game, let us consider what other nations play Tests.
ICC Test Rankings a Good Place to Start
The ICC (International Cricket Council) offers official rankings for Test, ODI and T20 teams, as well as for batters, bowlers and all-rounders. These cover both the men’s and women’s games. However, we should point out that in this article we are concerned solely with men’s cricket.
The Test rankings obviously give us a very good idea as to which nations play that format of the game. Perhaps confusingly, though, you will not find Ireland among the rankings. As of May 2026, there are just 10 nations listed and these are shown in the table below.
| Rank | Team | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 131 |
| 2 | South Africa | 119 |
| 3 | India | 104 |
| 4 | England | 102 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 101 |
| 6 | Sri Lanka | 86 |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 78 |
| 8 | Pakistan | 75 |
| 9 | West Indies | 68 |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 10 |
As we can see, Australia lead the way by some distance, with South Africa comfortably second. It is then quite tight between third and fifth, and between sixth and ninth, with Zimbabwe badly cut adrift at the foot of the rankings. However, things could get even worse for Zimbabwe in the years ahead.
Two Other Test-Playing Nations
There are two other nations that compete in Test cricket and we already know one of them. We should point out that Ireland’s latest fixture against the Kiwis is not their first at this level. They have, in fact, held Test status since 2017. Their first match saw them play Pakistan in May the following year in Malahide, around 10 miles north of Dublin.
The other nation that takes part in what many consider to be the purest form of the game is Afghanistan. Afghanistan, like Ireland, might seem an unlikely cricketing nation but they have really established themselves. That is especially true in white-ball cricket and the Afghans currently sit above England in the One Day International ICC standings. Whether that should be an embarrassment to English cricket or a great achievement for the relative minnows may depend on your point of view, although when one compares the resources available to the two nations it is easy to veer towards the former stance.
Ireland and Afghanistan do not currently feature in the ICC rankings. This is due to them not having played the minimum number of matches (Tests) in the ICC’s three-year ratings cycle. As and when they reach that minimum (eight Tests), they will obtain a ranking.
Only ICC Full Members can Play Tests
To play Tests, nations must be full ICC members. The International Cricket Council has associate members and full members. The former category is split into nations who have ODI status (and thus can play 50-over internationals) and T20 status. Full members can play any form of the game and the 12 full members are the 12 nations that play Test cricket.
We say “nations” but in fact even now we know the 12 sides that play Tests, it is worth pointing out that these are not nations in the official UN sense of the term. As in rugby and certain other sports and endeavours, Ireland is an All-Ireland team. This means they draw players from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, the latter being part of the UK.
The team almost exclusively referred to as England is actually representative of the ECB – the England and Wales Cricket Board. Last and certainly not least, we have the West Indies, which includes players from 15 countries and territories in the Caribbean. These include the likes of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica, but also Guyana, which is part of continental South America.
Lots of History but More Being Made all the Time
Cricket is a game with more history than many sports. The first Test was played way back in 1877 between England and Australia. For many years these were the only two nations that met in official Tests. England then played South Africa in 1888, with Australia also playing South Africa in 1902 and 1903.
The original ICC was the Imperial Cricket Conference, which was founded in 1909 with the three Test-playing nations the founder members. The Windies, India and New Zealand joined in 1926 and over the years more nations, or rather teams, have entered the Test-match fray. First was Pakistan in 1952, then Sri Lanka joined in 1981, with Zimbabwe becoming the ninth full ICC member in 1992, then Afghanistan and Ireland in 2017.
The ICC seeks to grow the game around the world. Who knows, perhaps Scotland, the UAE, Netherlands or Nepal, or even the USA, might be the next added to the Test ranks.