Strong Ireland prepares to weather the Scotland storm in Belfast

Two of the oldest rivals in international cricket, Scotland and Ireland, go head to head in the ICC Intercontinental Cup in Stormont from Thursday with advantage very much with the hosts and defending champions.

The Irish Cricket Union has announced a strong squad that includes county-based players Eoin Morgan of Middlesex and Northamptonshire's Niall O'Brien and it will be confident that it can get its defence of the title it won in May off to a winning start.

Ireland is still without tall fast bowler Boyd Rankin, who has been out for much of the season with injury, and opening batsman Jeremy Bray but otherwise had a full complement to pick from.

Young leg-spinner Greg Thompson, who has been showing good form this season, has been named and the Ireland under-19 captain could play his first match for the senior side since the semi-final of this competition against the United Arab Emirates in 2005.

"Unfortunately Boyd hasn't fully recovered," said Ireland coach Phil Simmons. "He bowled last week, but experienced a little bit of pain. Thompson has impressed me greatly. He turns the ball a lot away from the bat, and he's a wicket taker, which is exactly what we need in this competition," he said.

Scotland, on the other hand, is missing several players with Fraser Watts, Majid Haq, Glenn Rogers, Paul Hoffmann, Gordon Drummond and Gregor Maiden all out of the running due to business commitments.

But it has given selectors the opportunity to pick players skilled at the four-day version of the game and with these two teams being perhaps the most consistent in the history of the ICC Intercontinental Cup another tight battle could be on the cards.

"We have had a few guys pull out, mostly due to work commitments. The season has caught up on us I suppose and some of the fellas are struggling to get time off to play," said captain Ryan Watson.

"But this has allowed us to bring in a couple of four-day specialists for this game so it's not all bad. Steve Knox and Neil MacRae have both played a lot of four-day cricket so their added experience is a boost for us."

Apart from Knox and MacRae this could also be a chance for the likes of Richie Berrington, Gordon Goudie and wicketkeeper Simon Smith to make an impression.

And there are still plenty of potential match-winners within the Scotland ranks. Pace bowler John Blain had match figures of 8-118 against the Netherlands in Aberdeen last week while Watson (154) and Neil McCallum (181) both struck big hundreds in what turned out to be a comfortable victory over the Dutch.

It was certainly a confidence boost for Watson's men but they will be expecting a tougher challenge in Stormont. The first time these two sides met was in 1888 when Ireland was victorious by an innings and 26 runs at Rathmines in Dublin. But since then it has developed into one of the most enduring rivalries in cricket with Scotland having won 37, Ireland 26 and 38 matches ending in draws over a 101-match history.

"It is always a very good contest between Ireland and Scotland. We are two quite evenly matched sides and there is always a good battle," said Watson.

"They have been making strides as a team and now have a lot of experience, especially people like Morgan and O'Brien who have been playing plenty of (multi-day) cricket in England. They also have an excellent captain in Trent Johnston.

"They are well drilled and well disciplined, and if you combine that with a few stars, it is a formidable line-up but we are looking forward to it and hopefully the weather in Belfast will stay kind to us."

The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception three years ago and now ICC's premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members' cricket schedule.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event has evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.

Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in both events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider and Canada earlier this year in the 2006-07event.

The final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08 will take place in November 2008 at a venue yet to be decided.

Ireland (from): Trent Johnston (captain), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Thinus Fourie, Dave Langford-Smith, Eoin Morgan, Kyle McCallan, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, William Porterfield, Greg Thompson, Andrew White.

Scotland (from): Ryan Watson (captain), Richie Berrington, John Blain, Gordon Goudie, Gavin Hamilton, Steve Knox, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Neil MacRae, Dewald Nel, Simon Smith, Craig Wright.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Niels Bagh.