Plenty on show to please Simmons

CRICKET:IRELAND COACH Phil Simmons must have enjoyed his trip to Rathmines last Saturday. The hottest day of the year to date would have sat well with the Trinidad native, and the balmy conditions were complemented perfectly by a cracking game between Leinster and Clontarf, with close on 650 runs scored.

Andrew Poynter's gutsy 130 not out to lead defending Cup champions Clontarf to victory will have been stored in the memory banks; the 21-year-old Ireland A player is likely to make a full international appearance before summer's end.

To say the least, it's been an interesting start to the season for Simmons, who has had to deal with a firestorm of retirements, part- and full-time, and the unavailability of some top players due to commitments to English counties.

Nothing makes the point better than the fact just three players from last year's World Cup squad played in Ireland's final two Friends Provident Trophy games, while the average age of his sides was a shade over 24.

Including the early-season tour to the UAE and Bangladesh, Simmons has used 20 players this year and given Ireland debuts to five.

In many respects it has been forced on him, but it may well be a blessing in disguise as the former West Indies player bids to develop a squad for the European Championships and Twenty20 World Cup qualifiers later in the summer and further ahead to the World Cup qualifiers in just 10 months.

Yet, considering all that, there have been plenty of green shoots of encouragement from the recent campaign against the counties, with young players taking the step up to the senior side and looking like they belonged there all along.

Cliftonville teenager Paul Stirling looks all over a natural talent in the ilk of a Joyce or Morgan. Despite failing to make it to double figures in his last three knocks, his innings of 70 away to Northants was one of the batting highlights of the campaign.

When a 17-year-old has the audacity, combined with ability, to hit England spinner Monty Panesar out of the ground, it speaks volumes about a new generation of cricketers in this country who lack little in the way of confidence.

Stirling will spend part of the summer with Middlesex and, although the full-time coaching will help develop his game, the one hope is that his natural exuberance is left to flourish.

Waringstown left-armer Gary Kidd has smoothly taken over the second spinner's role from Andy White, and is not afraid to give the ball some air, as he showed in the four FP Trophy games he played, while Alex Cusack's intelligent use of variation makes him a vital foil in the middle of the innings, and indeed as a death bowler.

The one elephant in the room for Simmons is in the new-ball bowling department. Ireland need a strike-bowler, with the injury woes suffered by Boyd Rankin the greatest worry. The prognosis on Andre Botha's ankle problems is unclear, but there remains huge doubts as to his ability to bowl in tournament conditions due to the time his body needs to recover.

Simmons gave Phil Eaglestone his chance in the FP Trophy, but the Strabane bowler only once bowled his full 10 overs in the four games he played, having been hampered by shin splints. In truth he doesn't look a new-ball option, although it is still early days in his international career.

Kevin O'Brien has stepped into the new-ball role with gusto, but unless another firebrand sticks his hand up over the summer, Simmons may have to mix and match his front-line bowlers for some time.