Winking at island cricket sides in the country (9)

'winking at' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'island cricket sides in the country' is the wordplay.
'island' becomes 'i'.
'sides' suggests removing the centre (only the letters on the sides are used).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'the country' becomes 'nation' ('nation' can be a synonym of 'country').
'cricket' with its centre removed is 'ct'.
'i'+'ct'='ict'
'ict' put inside 'nation' is 'NICTATION'.

Can you help me to learn more?