teams-ir sport cricket-world-cup Virgin Media
Ireland’s squad - the first from those shores to qualify for a World Cup - is peculiar in composition, a mixture of young Irishmen desperate to take their country to a new level and hired help to bridge the gap. Niall and Kevin O’Brien, Andrew White and Eoin Morgan each possess indisputable talent while, equally crucially, lacking fear. There is talk that qualification is only the beginning for Irish cricket. However, with a handful of first-class matches between them it is essential that some experienced hands are around to help. Ed Joyce, the best player produced by his country in recent memory, now plays for England and with few adequate contemporaries it has fallen on thirty-something journeymen Trent Johnston, Jeremy Bray and David Langford-Smith (all Australia) and Andre Botha (South Africa) to anchor the cause. After keeping England on their toes in their inaugural ODI last July Ireland have grown in confidence against Scotland, the Netherlands and Continental Cup opponents. A squad bristling with anticipation will give their best and despite never having played in the Caribbean before they will travel in hope: Ireland beat the West Indies in 1969 and again in 2004.
Trent Johnston - Australian by birth and upbringing, fast-bowler Johnston played for New South Wales in the late 90s but failed to establish himself as a permanent fixture. After a spell in grade cricket he began playing for Ireland, first in the 2004 C&G and most recently in his adopted country’s inaugural ODIs. His experience and leadership are necessary for Ireland’s development, but he has been found lacking against top-class opposition.
Andrew White - since Joyce’s defection, White and Morgan are the Irish-qualified men closest to prominence in county cricket. The Northants man is a powerful right-hander in the lower middle-order and a bowler of improving off-spin. At 26 there is time as well as room for further development but fate is a poor respecter of convenience: his career will rarely scale higher peaks than the 2007 CWC and so now would be a good time to fulfil that potential.
Niall O’Brien - formerly understudy to Geraint Jones at Kent, O’Brien is worth keeping an eye on. As aggressive with his tongue as the bat, the wicketkeeper has attracted the unwanted attention of match officials in the past and his energy, alongside that of his younger brother Kevin, are key to raising a whole beyond the sum of its parts.
Despite making history in qualifying, the buzz in the camp is that they are not satisfied. With Pakistan and the West Indies in the same group it is to some unthinkable that they might go further, but Jack Charlton was told the same thing twenty years ago.
