Irish make most of African connection ahead of World Cricket League

Sometimes it helps to have friends in high places and Ireland's preparations for the ICC World Cricket League (WCL Div. 1) in Nairobi next week have certainly benefited from having a coach who hails from South Africa.

Leg-spinner Adrian Birrell played for several seasons with Eastern Province before turning his hand to coaching and was in charge of EP before taking the job of Ireland national coach in 2001.

Having spent a week or so training and netting in Port Elizabeth the players have been chomping at the bit to get some match action. Birrell's response has been to call in a few favours and he has lined up four games against an Eastern Province XI, including a day/night game at the Test ground in the city, St George's Park.

As far as Ireland's wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O'Brien is concerned, preparations could not have gone better.

"Everything's going smoothly at the moment, we are gearing up to the World Cricket League with these practice matches and then hopefully we'll be peaking in Nairobi and stay that way for the World Cup in the West Indies," said O'Brien.

"This time we have spent in South Africa has been really beneficial. Adi (Birrell) is getting us into good shape so that we will hit the ground running in Kenya and put in a strong performance against Scotland in our first game.

"If we can win that that will set us up nicely and we'll be trying hard to win the league or at least get to the final so that we qualify for the Twenty20 (the ICC Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa in September)," he said.

O'Brien comes from a sports-mad Dublin family. His father, Brendan, won 52 caps for Ireland between 1966 and 1981. O'Brien senior also played professional soccer for Dublin club Shelbourne and interprovincial hockey for Leinster. Niall's sister, Ciara, is a regular member of the Ireland women's hockey team and his brother, Kevin, is another member of the current Ireland cricket squad.

Interestingly, Kevin is part of a select group of players to take a wicket with his first ball on ODI debut when he had Andrew Strauss caught in Ireland's match against England in Stormont last June.

"It's great to have Kevvy in the squad and he has been playing very well," said Niall.

"As far as I'm concerned it's more enjoyable to play with him and we both want to go out and play well for our dad," he said.

The O'Briens are not the only set of brothers in the Ireland side. Seam bowlers Paul and John Mooney are part of another cricket-crazy family, hailing as they do from the North County club in Dublin, which has dominated domestic cricket in Leinster for several years.

North County also boasts all-rounder Andre Botha and talented young left-hander Eoin Morgan in the Ireland WCL Div. 1 and ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) squad, although Morgan now plies his trade at Lord's where he is under contract with English county side Middlesex.

The Irish will be led by seam-bowling all-rounder Trent Johnston, who learned his cricket in New South Wales, but many years ago pledged his future with his adopted country. Johnston is a lead-from-the-front kind of captain, not afraid to step forward when his side needs something extra.

Indeed, this Ireland side prides itself on its never-say-die attitude. Birrell has demanded that every player works hard on his fielding and it has batting ability spread throughout the squad, even among players who can expect to be batting at nine, ten or even eleven.

Not unlike the current Ireland rugby side, there is a very settled feel about this team, with eight of the team that lost to Scotland in the ICC Trophy 2005 still there. That experience will stand Ireland in good stead when the pressure comes on in Nairobi and, later, in Kingston where it will play its group matches against the West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe in the CWC.

Ireland (squad): Trent Johnston (captain), Andre Botha, Jeremy Bray, Kenny Carroll, Eoin Morgan, William Porterfield, Kyle McCallan, Peter Gillespie, Andrew White, David Langford-Smith, Niall O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Mooney, John Mooney.

The WCL Div. 1 involves the top six Associate teams As the six teams in this competition have all qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, the WCL Div. 1 is being used as part of their preparations for the event, which opens in Jamaica on 11 March.

But the WCL is about much more than that. Firstly, all games in the tournament carry ODI status so players are competing for their place in the historical analysis of top level one-day cricket. And secondly, the top two teams from this year's WCL will qualify for the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Championships, which is scheduled for South Africa in September.

The idea of the WCL is to give regular global one-day cricket opportunities to the top 18 non-Test countries. Apart from Division 1, the next eight best from the ICC Trophy 2005 have been allocated to Division 2 and 3 events later in 2007 along with the top teams from five regional qualifying events.

Promotion and relegation will be possible between divisions as each team seeks to move up the world cricket rankings. Events for Divisions 4 and 5 will commence in 2008 as the WCL expands.

This gives each of the 87 Associate and Affiliate Members a clearly defined pathway to progress and develop in world cricket. Every side can now make its own plan as to how it will some day take its place alongside the very best at the ICC Cricket World Cup. It also means that the ICC can identify the relative strengths of these member countries on a more regular basis than ever before.