IF THERE were any doubts about England’s focus ahead of today’s RSA Challenge One-Day International against Ireland, they were soon blown away yesterday afternoon when skipper Paul Collingwood took his squad for a run on the Stormont Mile leading up to the Assembly building.
Whether they made it as far as the statue of Edward Carson before being given out by his somewhat umpire-like pose is unclear, but Collingwood admitted afterwards that the steep rise up to the Northern Ireland seat of power had certainly cleared away whatever cobwebs remained from their Ashes celebrations over the last few days.
Some of the England squad have questioned the timing of the game before they head into a hectic schedule of one-day encounters against the Australians, but Collingwood is confident his side will be on the ball once they cross the rope this morning.
“Obviously it’s a quick turnaround and the schedule isn’t ideal. In many ways it was nice to have won in four days at The Oval, it would have been very tough if it had gone into a fifth day,” said Collingwood, who is one of six players in the squad who helped England to a 2-1 series win last Sunday.
“Tomorrow is a one-day international against a very good side as we have seen in the past. We have got to get ourselves up for it, simple as that, and put a good performance in.”
One player who had little sympathy for the predicament of the visiting side was Niall O’Brien, who was Ireland’s top scorer with 63 when the sides last met in Guyana during the 2007 World Cup, a match England won by 48 runs.
“I don’t see where they can have grounds for complaint, they’re getting paid huge amounts of money,” said O’Brien, who is well acquainted with the English players from his time in county cricket.
“That’s their job, us county cricketers are playing six days a week and we’re not moaning about it, so the fact they’ve got to come to lovely Belfast to play one game against Ireland, they shouldn’t be too unhappy about that,” added O’Brien, who will relish today’s battle after missing the clash at Stormont three years ago due his commitments to Kent.
Back in 2006 the subplot to the game came in the fact that Ed Joyce was making his debut for England and today may well see another of our finest cricketing exports take on his former team-mates if Eoin Morgan is picked to win his third ODI cap for the country.
It’s been a sore point for many cricket followers here that England have been able to cherry-pick our finest stars, but Collingwood believes it comes down to players themselves at the end of the day.
“I think it’s up to the individual, the choice that they make in terms of their futures in international cricket. They’re two exceptionally good players and they’ve made the choice to play for England,” added Collingwood.
There was some bad news for coach Phil Simmons on the eve of the game, with confirmation that 6ft 8in opening bowler Boyd Rankin will miss the clash after failing to recover in time from a groin injury picked playing for Warwickshire.
Niall O’Brien will come into the side that beat Scotland last weekend in Aberdeen, with either Gary Wilson or Paul Stirling missing out. The other worry comes in the shape of the rain that left the Stormont outfield soaked yesterday and is forecast to return this afternoon. But here’s hoping the only mention of The Duckworth-Lewis Method today will be the band of the same name, who are set to entertain the 6,000 sell-out crowd during the interval.
IRELAND(from): W Porterfield (Gloucestershire, capt), A Botha (North County), A Cusack (Clontarf), T Johnston (Railway Union), J Mooney (North County), K McCallan (Waringstown), K O'Brien (Railway Union), N O'Brien (Northamptonshire, wkt), P Stirling (Carrickfergus), R West (Civil Service North), A White (Instonians), G Wilson (Surrey).
ENGLAND(from): P Collingwood (Durham, capt), J Anderson (Lancashire), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Denly (Kent), E Morgan (Middlesex), M Prior (Sussex, wkt), A Rashid (Yorkshire), O Shah (Middlesex), R Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), J Trott (Warwickshire), L Wright (Sussex).
Umpires:A Rauf, P Baldwin.
