ICC Trophy Ireland 2005 - Group A preview

The first part of a two-part preview looks at the teams that will contest Group A of the ICC Trophy 2005 which begins on 1 July in Ireland.

The top two teams in Group A will progress to the semi-finals of the ICC Trophy. They will also qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007.

The teams that finish third and fourth in the group will play-off against the third and fourth place finishers in Group B for the final ICC Cricket World Cup qualifying place.

All group stage matches will be played in the north of Ireland from Friday 1 July while the knock-out stages will be played in the south with the final at Clontarf near Dublin on 13 July.

Group A: Bermuda, Denmark, Ireland, Uganda, United Arab Emirates and United States of America.

Cricket is the national sport of Bermuda - so much so that when the season's biggest match comes round, a two-day holiday is declared. The Cup Classic is an annual challenge dating back over a century, between the best of the West and the best of the East on the island.

Current skipper Clay Smith could be the man to look out for with a record three centuries under his belt in the Cup Classic. Smith and his team will be coached by former West Indies batsman Gus Logie.

Squad

Cricket arrived in Denmark in the 1860s when British workers introduced it while laying railway lines. Ole Mortensen is the greatest ever cricketer to hail from Denmark. He played for Derbyshire from 1983 to 1993, bowled over 10,300 overs and took 434 wickets at an average of 23.88. He took 11 for 89 against Yorkshire on his debut with Geoff Boycott the prize scalp among his victims.

In Denmark today there are more than 40 cricket clubs and over 3000 players.

Squad

Ireland achieved a record-breaking run of 10 successive victories in the 2003 and 2004 seasons - the most notable, a five-wicket win over Surrey in the C&G knock out competition in Dublin early in the 2004 season. The past couple of years have seen convincing wins over Brian Lara's West Indians (6 wickets) and Heath Streak's Zimbabweans (10 wickets). Yet it was a match in the tiny County Tyrone village of Sion Mills in July 1969 that is written largest in the folklore of the sport in Ireland. On their way to a nine-wicket win, Ireland bowled out the touring West Indies for a mere 25.

Ireland will be boosted by the presence in their side of Middlesex batsman Ed Joyce, the first country cricketer to reach 1000 runs in 2005.

Squad

Uganda's greatest ever cricketer is Sam Walusimbi, a legendary all-rounder who once took 11 wickets against an Indian side that contained three Test players. He also played in the first ICC Cricket World Cup in 1975 for East Africa.

Two Ugandan players named in the ICC Trophy "Tournament XI" in Toronto four years are back in contention for a place in the starting line-up in Ireland. Junior Kwebiha had a terrific tournament as a hard hitting batsman and effective medium pacer but it was Kenneth Kamyuka who stole the show in Toronto with a century off 59 balls against Malaysia. Uganda had been seeded 23rd out of the 24 countries in Canada and came away ranked tenth.

The Uganda squad boasts two former Davis Cup tennis players and one international darts player.

Squad

The UAE team of 1994 produced the all-time highlight in the nation's cricket history - victory in the ICC Trophy at the first time of asking. The side were rank outsiders for the tournament in Kenya but returned home undefeated with a place booked in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996.

Players to watch out for in Ireland include the prolific batsman Arshad Ali and fast bowler Ali Assad Abbas who was the leading wicket taker in the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2004.

Squad

The oldest rivalry in international cricket is not, surprisingly, the Ashes. Thirty-three years before England took on Australia in the first official Test match, USA locked horns with Canada in the first recorded cricket encounter between two nations.

The high of United States' cricket came in 2004 in UAE with victory in the ICC Six Nations Challenge. This provided USA a place at the ICC Champions Trophy in England where it took part in matches against Australia and New Zealand with little success.

Squad

Full tournament information is available on the official tournament website www.icc-trophy.com.