Unchanged Ireland head for Kenya

Ireland have confirmed the 15-man squad who will participate in the first division of the World Cricket League in Kenya. The six-team tournament runs from January 30 until February 7 and features the top six ranked countries below Test level, namely Kenya, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Netherlands and Bermuda.

An added incentive for the Irish to do well is the fact that the top two finishers will receive $250,000 and a place in the inaugural ICC Twenty20 Championships, which are to be held in South Africa in September 2007.

The squad will again be captained by Trent Johnston, and contains the same 15 players who led Ireland to European Championship glory in Glasgow this summer. Irish coach Adrian Birrell is looking forward immensely to the WCL, saying: "It should be very competitive cricket with so much at stake. The players have been working very hard over the winter months, and we set off in early January for Port Elizabeth to continue our preparations. I'm confident that the players will be in ideal shape come the commencement of the competition. We have no injury worries or availability problems, so the squad has taken on a very settled look."

Warren Deutrom, the newly installed chief executive of Irish cricket, looked forward to 2007 saying, "It's a great time to be at the helm of Irish cricket. The next 12 months will be without a doubt the most memorable in Irish cricket, and I'm delighted to be involved. I'd like to wish Adrian and the team all the best in their endeavours, and I'm sure they'll do us all proud."

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