Simmons stresses need to send message to ICC

CRICKET NEWS:IRELAND COACH Phil Simmons believes his side must seize the opportunity to send a strong message to the game's governing body when they host Pakistan in two One-Day Internationals at Stormont at the end of the month.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will meet at the end of June to decide whether to reintroduce a qualifying campaign for the 2015 World Cup and Simmons is keen all the work by Cricket Ireland can be backed up on the field against the World Cup semi-finalists in Belfast on May 28th and 30th. “Everyone is aware of the importance of these games, not just in terms of ranking points, but also in the bigger scheme of things with a decision pending on a qualification tournament for the 2015 World Cup. Two more strong performances against Pakistan will help,” said Simmons yesterday after naming a strong 14-man squad for the two games.

“The 2007 World Cup win against Pakistan was the catalyst for the exponential growth for Irish cricket. I can see no reason why we can’t repeat that success on home soil given the talent we possess in our ranks,” he added.

Simmons has named 13 of the 15 players from the recent World Cup squad. Andre Botha announced his international retirement this month, while left-arm spinner George Dockrell has still not fully recovered from the dislocated shoulder he suffered in Ireland’s victory over the Netherlands in Calcutta on March 18th.

Former New Zealand batsman Hamish Marshall, who qualified to play for Ireland last month, misses out with a fractured right thumb sustained while playing for Gloucestershire against Middlesex. His absence has opened the door for uncapped Strabane opening batsman Niall McDonnell. The 31-year-old schoolteacher has represented Ireland A on a number of occasions, scoring a century in last summer’s three-day against the MCC at College Park in Dublin.

McDonnell will have his work cut out breaking into the starting line-up, with Simmons noting the form of Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien in the English county season. “The county players have been playing some excellent cricket, and most of them seem in really good form, which is encouraging,” he said.

In the absence of Dockrell, Simmons may look to YMCA off-spinner Albert van der Merwe to lead the slow bowling attack, with Paul Stirling and Andrew White his other options.

Pakistan also named their squad, with Misbah-ul-Haq replacing Shahid Afridi as captain for the series.

Meanwhile Eoin Morgan managed to exceed his Indian Premier League runs aggregate for the past month in under a day of action for England Lions against Sri Lanka at Derby yesterday.

Morgan’s unbeaten 156 in a Lions total of 394 for four on day one looks like it came to late to earn Test selection. The word is that the squad for the first Test was picked on Wednesday and that Ravi Bopara has been inked in to replace Paul Collingwood.

IRELAND SQUAD:(for One-Day Internationals v Pakistan, Stormont, Belfast, May 28th and 30th): William Porterfield (Warwickshire, captain), Alex Cusack (Clontarf), Trent Johnston (Railway Union), Nigel Jones (Civil Service North), Ed Joyce (Sussex), Niall McDonnell (Strabane), John Mooney (North County), Kevin O'Brien (Gloucestershire), Niall O'Brien (Northants), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Albert Van der Merwe (YMCA), Andrew White (Instonians), Gary Wilson (Surrey).

PAKISTAN SQUAD:Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Shahid Afridi, Tanvir Ahmed, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Hammad Azam, Umar Gul, Mohammad Hafeez, Junaid Khan, Younis Khan, Abdur Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Salman, Asad Shafiq, Taufeeq Umar.