CRICKET/European Championship: An Ireland side has probably never been this confident going into a European Championship. With the 2004 season already a memorable one, there is a feeling the players in this squad genuinely expect to win every game.

High-profile victories over Surrey (in the C and G Trophy), the West Indies (in a one-day international) and Holland (in a three-day Inter-Continental Cup match) probably put Ireland as the form side going into these Europeans, and, certainly, no country will relish taking them on in this sort of form.

But if you expect national coach Adrian Birrell to start making wild predictions about how his side is going to tear the opposition apart, then you don't know much about this unflappable South African.

"I am only thinking as far ahead as the next game. What we have achieved so far we can learn from and gain confidence from, but we cannot get ahead of ourselves," he said. "Everything has pretty much gone to plan this season and hopefully, at the end of the year, we will be able to look back on a job well done. But you have to concentrate on the job in hand."

That job is a tough opening game against the ECB in Utrecht tomorrow. This England side are the defending champions, having won the 2002 tournament, and have retained much of that winning side, a fact Birrell is wary of.

Batting all-rounder Steve Chapman, from Hartlepool CC, was player of the tournament two years ago and will be back to torment all comers again. Skipper Steve Foster will head the bowling attack with Blackpool's Marcus Sharp, who has had previous successes against Ireland.

"We know most of their players. They have a very good side and have probably just about had the better of the games against us in recent times. It is not going to be easy," warned Birrell.

Ireland are boosted by the return of skipper Jason Molins, who flew out to join the squad yesterday. Molins is expected to come through a fitness test on a hamstring that kept him out of the triumph over the Dutch earlier in the week.

"It is good to get Jason back but we are starting to get to the situation where we are not relying on one or two players. We have a strong squad now with plenty of depth," said Birrell.

One of the players who perhaps would not have been in Ireland's strongest possible starting XI is Rush seam-bowler Naseer Shoukat who, thanks to his match-clinching 5-30 against Holland on Thursday, has almost made himself undroppable.

"You always know what you are getting with Naz. He bowls a consistent line, which means you can really apply tactics and a game plan around him. He is an experienced player who has fitted in nicely," he added.

With an intensive schedule, Ireland's depth will be tested. But such is the buoyancy within the squad, this European title is really there for the taking.

IRELAND'S SCHEDULE - Sunday, v ECB; Tuesday, v Holland; Wednesday, v Scotland; Thursday, v Denmark.