CRICKET/Inter-Continental Cup preview: Ireland go into day one of their Inter-Continental Cup match against the Netherlands today in Stormont with a mathematical but highly unlikely chance of missing out on a trip to the finals in Namibia at the end of October.
Their thrilling three-run victory over the Scots in Aberdeen last week - the first on Scottish soil in 31 years - gave them a total of 30 points and such was the disappointing rain-affected draw between Scotland and the Netherlands earlier in the season, the Dutch must beat the Irish by at least 25 points to make it to the world finals. It's not impossible but it is lottery-style odds.
That said, coach Adrian Birrell is not a man who goes into matches trying to lose by less than 25 points. He will want to win this game and, realistically, as good as some of the Dutch players are, there is no reason that desire should seem unreasonable.
Trent Johnston (work commitments) and Eoin Morgan (playing with his county, Middlesex) are unavailable as they were for the trip to Scotland so Conor Armstrong of North County and Railway Union's Roger Whelan retain their places in the 12-man squad.
With a season average of little more than 13, the pressure is on skipper Jason Molins to score a few runs but with what should be a good batting track in Stormont and his winner's mentality, who would bet against him doing just that? The Dutch had a late setback with Billy Stelling sustaining a foot injury in a league game on Sunday. His place is taken by Jelte Schoonheim, who gets his chance after a good showing in the recent under-23 European Championships in Deventer.
A key man for the Netherlands will be Bas Zuiderent, player of the tournament in the ICC Trophy in July with a phenomenal batting average of 118. Bowling all-rounder Eric Schiferli is an exciting prospect and Tom de Grooth has plenty of experience but it is hard to pick out anyone else who would cause Ireland much concern.
Regardless of the points standing, nothing but victory will do Ireland against a Dutch side who should not have the fire-power to live with Molins and his team. A win will do nicely as they prepare to take on the UAE, Kenya and probably Canada in the knock-out stages of the competition in Windhoek in less than nine weeks.
IRELAND SQUAD: Jason Molins, Jeremy Bray, Andre Botha, Dominick Joyce, Conor Armstrong, Peter Gillespie, Kyle McCallan, Gary Wilson, Paul Mooney, Greg Thompson, Roger Whelan, Adrian McCoubrey.
NETHERLANDS SQUAD: Ryan ten Doeschate, Ernst van Giezen, Jelte Schoonheim, Tom de Grooth, Maurits van Nierop, Adeel Raja, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Jeroen Westermann, Bas Zuiderent, Alexi Kervezee, Eric Schwarzinski.
INTER-CONTINENTAL CUP
EUROPE GROUP
P W L D Pts
Ireland 1 1 0 0 30
Scotland 2 0 1 1 21
Netherlands 1 0 0 1 5.5
