Ireland's cricketers begin the defence of the Triple Crown title which they won last year in what seems likely to be a difficult opening match, against Scotland at West Bromwich Dartmouth CC today.
In less than a year, the Scots have three times proved to be something of a cricketing nemesis for Ireland - in the equivalent game last year, late last summer in the three-day match at Linlithgow and, worst of all, in the recent ICC Trophy in Malaysia.
In Wales just over a year ago, Ireland went into their second
Triple Crown encounter, against Scotland, with morale high, having defeated the host nation by five wickets the previous day. Morale soared even higher, when, batting first, they accumulated a healthy
245 for six wickets, only for Scotland to then cruise to a seven-wicket victory.
At Linlithgow, Ireland had dominated the match, but had to settle for a draw because of bad light and weather on the third day. Last
April, in Kuala Lumpur, Ireland turned in a below par performance against the Scots to blow the chance of a place in the 1999 World
Cup; a win today won't alter that status quo, but it would be a help, all the same. This Triple Crown - unlike its rugby counterpart, for instance - doesn't require clear victories over the other three countries; Ireland won last year by going on to defeat England, while the Welsh did a favour by unexpectedly beating Scotland. It was
Ireland's first success after three years of often tantalising near-misses in the competition.
The nucleus of last summer's team remains, though the selectors have had to make three changes, as Decker Curry, Peter Gillespie and
Mark Patterson all dropped out. It's no disrespect to the new men -
Johnny Byrne, Ed Joyce and John Davy - to say that the original trio could be missed; the absence of Curry, in particular, is a major blow.
Still, Kyle McCallan, Andy Patterson, Angus Dunlop, Derek Heasley,
Alan Rutherford, Paul McCrum and skipper Justin Benson all remain.
And this time around, Ireland can also call on the varied talents and considerable experience of Alan Lewis, who was not available for last year's tournament.
The arrival at this level of cricket of the three newcomers is also very welcome, and all are talented players who can only benefit from their promotion. Ed Joyce was a key figure in Ireland's outstanding success in the Youth International Tournament in Bermuda, and hopefully he will get the opportunity to perform at the higher level over the next three days.
Ireland play England at Stourbridge CC tomorrow and their final match is against Wales, at Moseley CC, on Thursday.
