Cricket / Inter-Continental Cup: Only four of the United Arab Emirates team that lost to Ireland by two wickets in July's ICC Trophy in Belfast have made the squad for the semi-finals of the ICC Inter-Continental Cup against the Irish in Namibia later this month.
Experienced all-rounder and captain Khurram Khan, who was the pick of the UAE's batting and bowling that day in Stormont, has lost his place to Arshad Ali. There is also no room for Javed Ismail who made 56 the last time the two teams met.
Of course, Ireland have also changed captains since the ICC Trophy with Jason Molins out of favour with selectors and Trent Johnston picked to lead the team. Adrian Birrell's team will also be without their best batsman Ed Joyce, who has been selected onto the England A squad for winter training and tour but the 13-man squad does include Kent wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien and Eoin Morgan of Middlesex to bolster the middle order.
The Ireland v UAE semi-final will take place between October 23rd and 25th in Windhoek with the winners or, in case of a draw, the side with the more bonus points, taking on either Bermuda, who came through the Americas qualifying group, or African champions Kenya in the final from October 27th to 29th at the Wanderers Club.
On their way to the semi-finals, Ireland beat reigning champions Scotland by three runs in a thriller at Aberdeen and then drew with the Netherlands in Belfast to secure their place as European qualifiers. The team face a tough three-day match against the UAE in what is likely to be punishing heat coming off the Namib Desert. They will, however, be expected to get through to the final and will most likely face Kenya for the title.
This is the second year of the ICC Inter-Continental Cup, a three-day competition designed to give non-Test playing nations exposure to the longer form of the game.
"The format is intended to give batsman the chance to learn how to build an innings and spend more time at the crease while, for bowlers, the longer game encourages them to get fitter and learn more skills as it requires them to dismiss players rather than simply restrict them from scoring," said an ICC spokesman.
IRELAND: Trent Johnston (captain), Conor Armstrong, Andre Botha, Jeremy Bray, Peter Gillespie, Dominick Joyce, Kyle McCallan, Adrian McCoubrey, Paul Mooney, Eoin Morgan, Niall O'Brien, Greg Thompson, Andrew White.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Arshad Ali (captain), Muhammad Taskeen, Imran Ali, Rameez Shahzad, Kashif Ahmed, Vairamoorthy Sockalingam, Sameer Zia, Ali Asad Abbas, Rizwan Ahmed, Fahad Alhashmi, Usman Saleem, Marlon Fernando, Fahad Usman.
BERMUDA: Clay Smith (captain), Janeiro Tucker, Saleem Mukuddem, Dwayne Leverock, Dean Minors, Ryan Steede, Irving Romaine, Kwame Tucker, Kevin Hurdle, Curtis Jackson, Lionel Cann, Hasan Durham, Kevin Tucker.
KENYA: Steve Tikolo (captain), Thomas Odoyo, Kennedy Otieno, Maurice Ouma, Kalpesh Patel, Ragheb Aga, Lameck Onyango, Collins Obuya, Mohammed Sheikh, Peter Ongondo, Martin Suji, Hitesh Modi, Tony Suji.
Dates: October 23rd-25th: Ireland v UAE, Bermuda v Kenya. October 27th-29th Final, Wanderers CC, Windhoek.
