A BRIEF GLANCE at the Gloucestershire squad for today's Benson and Hedges game at Castle Avenue might lead the more optimistic of local cricket fans to believe that Ireland might for once be in with a reasonable chance against professional opposition.
For one, there will be no Courtney Walsh bearing down on the opening bats men as the West Indian opening bowler is still on Test duty against New Zealand. Also, apart from Jack Russell and to a lesser extent, Andrew Symonds, none of the other players in the visitors' line up fall into the household name category. Still, recent experience will cause the more realistic of the Irish players to hope for no more than a respectable defeat.
Walsh's absence and the docile Castle Avenue track should help to make matters a little easier on the Irish bats men, even if left arm seamer Mike Smith comes into this game on the back of an eight wicket haul against Middlesex. One fears more for the bowlers, whose confidence must be just a little shaky after the hammering they received last week. Even a normally economical bowler like Garfield Harrison took a pasting as the county pros went after the Irish bowling from the start.
The new 15 over regulation certainly militates against the bowling and if there is one player in the Gloucestershire line up to avail of the fielding restrictions if is Australian born but English qualified Symonds.
Much of the recent publicity concerning this player has concerned his prevarication over the nationality issue but the Glamorgan bowlers who had to deal with him at Abergavenny last season will remember him more for his awesome hitting. Symonds broke John Reid's record for most sixes in a first class innings with 16 in total, in an undefeated 254.
Incidentally, the last timed Gloucestershire were at Castle Avenue, they had to endure some anxious moments as two of the current Irish selectors, Simon Corlett and Roy Torrens, reduced them to 25 for three. However, after they had recovered to 245, a current England selector, David Graveney, took 5 for 11 as Ireland crumbled to 75 all out. Stephen Warke is the only current Irish player to survive from that game.
