Change in format won't slow Ireland

CRICKET INTERCONTINENTAL CUP:A SUCCESSFUL month for Ireland sees them go in search of a 10th straight victory when they take on Canada in a four-day Intercontinental Cup clash that gets under way in Malahide this morning (11am).

The memory of their back-to-back defeats to New Zealand and Scotland in Aberdeen at the start of July seem a distant memory now after retaining their European Championship title and securing a place in next summer's Twenty20 World Cup.

The constant changing in format hasn't hindered Ireland, with players like Andre Botha, Alex Cusack and Peter Connell excelling across all forms of the game. A break from the international game early in the summer seems to have worked wonders for Botha, who was named player of the tournament in the T20 Qualifier in Stormont.

Cusack was another stand-out performer. His bowling partnership with Botha strangled the life out of opponents with their unerring accuracy and sheer cricketing intelligence.

Ireland now return to a competition that they have dominated in recent years, and a victory over Canada will put them in a perfect position to go for a third straight win in the tournament.

These sides last met in last year's Intercontinental Cup decider at Grace Road, when Ireland ran out comfortable winners by and innings and 15 runs.

Canada have failed to progress from their appearance in the final and have won just one of their six games in this tournament, with Scotland hammering them by an innings and 165 runs in Toronto last month.

Ireland enjoyed an innings victory over the Netherlands in their last outing in Rotterdam, with Botha's 172 and Connell's 10 wickets, including a hat-trick, the stand-out performances.

World Cup skipper Trent Johnston returns to the four-day game, while Lisburn leg-spinner Greg Thompson is also in line to play.

IRELAND (from):K McCallan (Waringstown, capt), A Botha (North County), P Connell (North Down), A Cusack (Clontarf), T Fourie (Railway Union), T Johnston (Railway Union), K O'Brien (Railway Union), A Poynter (Clontarf), P Stirling (Cliftonville), R Strydom (North County), G Thompson (Lisburn), A White (Instonians), G Wilson (Surrey, wkts).

CANADA (from):S Thuraisingam (Capt), R Bhatti, G Barnett, H Baidwan, E Katchay, S Dhaniram, Z Surkari, K Jethi, S Welsh, Q Ali, R Gunasekera, M Iqbal, A Kandappah, S bin Zafar.