CRICKET: With success comes new challenges. The flip-side of Ireland's deserved win over Gloucestershire in the C&G Trophy last Sunday and their narrow defeat over Glamorgan the following day is that no county can afford to take them lightly from now on.

Adrian Birrell's team have lost the element of surprise because although they qualified for the World Cup last summer and then won the InterContinental Cup in October, they weren't taken seriously as a team at this level until their spinners ripped through Gloucestershire, a side that has won this competition four times in the last seven years.

The full-time professional scene of county cricket is still a significant step up from the amateur world of the ICC Associate competitions where Ireland have been a leading force of late.

But this is where they want to be. And they go into tomorrow's game against Essex in Chelmsford with a good chance of registering another away win.

Essex will be without Alistair Cook and Ravinder Bopara who are currently playing for England A against the Sri Lankans and there is still a doubt over the fitness of veteran fast bowler Darren Gough. That said, with the likes of former England one-day specialist Ronnie Irani, the Flower brothers Andy and Grant of Zimbabwe, and South African-born Dutch international Ryan ten Doeschate, they have a very strong side, particularly in the shorter form of the game. They didn't win the Totesport League last year by accident.

It could well come down to a battle of the spinners. Ireland's two overseas players Shahid Afridi and Saqlain Mushtaq, along with Kyle McCallan have been causing big problems for batsmen in this tournament so far. But in James Middlebrook, Tim Phillips and Grant Flower, Essex have their own triumvirate of slow bowlers, who are hitting a bit of form at the moment.

To give the spinners a chance though, Ireland's pace bowlers will have to front up at the start of the innings. Inconsistency in line and length has dogged them so far, something that has led to the dropping of Adrian McCoubrey for this game and has put David Langford-Smith's place in the side on shaky ground.

Ireland may be without batsman Eoin Morgan, who could be called up by Middlesex. William Porterfield will come into the side to make his senior debut with Gary Wilson taking over as 12th man. It would be a big blow to lose Morgan because such are the strange regulations of the C&G Trophy, playing for Middlesex would disqualify him from the Irish team for the remainder of the competition.

Meanwhile at home, the Dublin Grass Machinery 45 Overs League continues with champions Clontarf needing a win over Pembroke at Sydney Parade today to stay in the hunt. In another intriguing clash, YMCA travel to Rathmines to take on Leinster.

IRELAND (squad): T Johnston, J Bray, D Joyce, A Botha, E Morgan, Shahid Afridi, K McCallan, P Gillespie, D Langford-Smith, J Mooney, W Porterfield, Saqlain Mushtaq, G Wilson.

ESSEX (squad): R Irani, A Adams, A Flower, G Flower, J Foster, J Middlebrook, G Napier, A Palladino, M Pettini, T Phillips, R ten Doeschate, D Gough, V Chopra.