Cricket World CupIreland have announced an unchanged, 15-man squad for their debut in the ICC Cricket World Cup in March.
It is the same group of players, led by Australian-born captain Trent Johnston, which competed in the recent ICC World Cricket League in Kenya, before chalking up a record-breaking victory against United Arab Emirates in the semi-final of Intercontinental Cup.
"It is a squad of physically fit, multi-dimensional cricketers," coach Adrian Birrell told The Irish Times.
"These are players that have proven their worth over a two-year period, and who have put in consistent performances.
"This selection is not just about the last two weeks."
The squad includes two players with first-class cricket experience. Niall O'Brien moved from Kent to Northants this winter, and Eoin Morgan is a 20-year-old batsman on the Middlesex staff.
Birrell believes the squad's strength lies in the batting department, which he says goes down to number 10. This is borne out by recent performances. Four players scored centuries during the World League games: Jeremy Bray, William Porterfield (twice), Kevin O'Brien and Morgan,
Morgan is in particularly good form, leading the demolition of UAE with 210 not out, the highest individual score in Irish history. His partnership of 360 with Andre Botha and the total of 531 for 5 were also both Irish and Associate ICC member records.
However, concerns about the penetration of the bowling attack were highlighted during the ICC World Cricket League, where the team lost four out of five games, at times defending substantial totals.
Birrell says he looked for variety from the bowlers and believed the promise shown by fast bowler Boyd Rankin would bear fruit on Caribbean pitches.
The bounce generated by Rankin's height was a major factor in the dismissal of UAE, taking 4 for 52.
Before travelling to the Caribbean, the squad will meet President Mary McAleese at a reception for sponsors Bank of Ireland on February 27th in Dublin.
Ireland play two warm-up games in Trinidad, versus South Africa and Canada, before moving on to Jamaica, where they will play Zimbabwe on March 15th, Pakistan on March 17th, and hosts West Indies on March 23rd.
WORLD CUP SQUADS
IRELAND: DT Johnston (capt, Clontarf), A Botha (North County), J Bray (Eglinton), K Carroll (Railway Union), P Gillespie (Strabane), K McCallan (vice-capt, Waringstown), J Mooney (North County), P Mooney (North County), E Morgan (Middlesex), K O'Brien (Railway Union), N O'Brien (Northants), W Porterfield (Rush), B Rankin (Bready), D Langford-Smith (Phoenix), A White (unattached).
KENYA: Steve Tikolo (capt), Thomas Odoyo (vice-capt), Ravindu Shah, Tanmay Mishra, Collins Obuya, Peter Ongondo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Maurice Ouma, Malhar Patel, Hiren Varaiya, David Obuya, Rajesh Bhudia, Jimmy Kamande, Tony Suji, Lameck Onyango.
PAKISTAN: Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Naved-ul-Hasan, Iftikhar Anjum.
SCOTLAND: John Blain, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Paul Hoffmann, Douglas Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Navdeep Poonia, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith, Ryan Watson (vice-capt), Fraser Watts, Craig Wright (capt).
AUSTRALIA: Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist (vice-capt), Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson.
NEW ZEALAND: Stephen Fleming (capt), Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Michael Mason, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Lou Vincent.
SRI LANKA: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Russel Arnold, Marvan Atapattu, Malinga Bandara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, Sanath Jayasuriya, Nuwan Kulasekara, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga, Chaminda Vaas.
INDIA: R Dravid (capt), S Tendulkar, S Ganguly, R Uthappa, V Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, D Kartik, Z Khan, A Kumble, H Singh, A Agarkar, I Pathan, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth
