CRICKET: Every coin has two sides. At the moment a batsman is cursing his luck for getting out, the bowler celebrates and while no one is glad that Niall O'Brien has been left out of the Kent team as a result of the return of Geraint Jones to the county scene, it does mean Ireland will be more or less at full strength for the ECC European Championships that get under way today in Glasgow.
Wicket-keeper Jones was dropped from the England team in favour of Chris Reed for the third Test against Pakistan which starts at Headingly this morning and so he was free to head to Canterbury to join Kent in their County Championship match against Hampshire.
The knock-on effect of that is that Dubliner O'Brien must make way and while his county career is now looking precarious (through no real fault of his own) it does give national coach Adrian Birrell a chance to pick a side close to the one he expects to represent Ireland at the World Cup in the West Indies next March.
Today they take on Denmark in a match they would be expected to win, no matter what side they put out. The Danes beat Ireland by 12 runs at the 2001 ICC Trophy in Toronto but in the five times the two countries have met since then, the Irish have never won by less than 73 runs or seven wickets.
The big test should come tomorrow when Ireland take on their hosts and perennial rivals Scotland in what surely will be the deciding of the tournament. Eoin Morgan of Middlesex and Northamptonshire's Andy White will both be available for that game as well as the ebullient O'Brien so it will be a strong team that takes the field at Ayr for what will be a match with full one-day international status.
In contrast to Ireland, the Scots will not have a full squad to pick from. Apart from Cedric English, who retired from international cricket last week, they will be without Gavin Hamilton who has work commitments and Kyle Coetzer who is required by his county team Durham. There can be no excuses for Ireland then and they will feel that they are probably narrow favourites to win the title.
In-form Railway Union batsman Kenny Carroll will surely get a chance opening the batting and more runs from him this weekend, to go with his fine knocks in the recent under-23 European Championships, will surely book his ticket to the World Cup.
IRELAND (squad): T Johnston (captain, Clontarf), J Bray (Eglinton), A Botha (North County), K Carroll (Railway Union), P Gillespie (Strabane), D Langford-Smith (Phoenix), K McCallan (Waringstown), J Mooney (North County), P Mooney (North County), E Morgan (Middlesex), K O'Brien (Railway Union), N O'Brien (Kent), W Porterfield (Rush), B Rankin (Derbyshire), A White (Northamptonshire).
ECC EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE: Today: Netherlands v Italy (Poloc), Denmark v Ireland (Hamilton Crescent). Tomorrow: Scotland v Ireland (Ayr). Sunday: Scotland v Netherlands (Ayr), Denmark v Italy (Glasgow Accies). Monday: Ireland v Italy (Hamilton Crescent). Tuesday: Scotland v Denmark (Glasgow Accies), Ireland v Netherlands (Ayr). Wednesday: Scotland v Italy (Hamilton Crescent), Netherlands v Denmark (Poloc).
