The industrious members of Clontarf Cricket Club would be the last to wish ill luck upon the national team in today's second-round NatWest Trophy match against Essex Board at Comber in Co Down. The Clontarf folk have been working hammer and tongs on their grounds in the build-up to Friday's World Cup game at Castle Avenue, and will be apprehensively aware that success for Ireland today would involve them in considerable similar effort next month.

Victory against Essex Board would mean that Ireland's next match would be against Leicestershire, the English County Champions for the past two years at - you've guessed it - Castle Avenue on June 23rd. Which would mean la mor eile at Clontarf.

Assessing Ireland's chances today is an impossible task, given that information about the opposition appears to be governed by the Official Secrets Act. One rumour has it that the Essex team includes a few players of County standard but who never quite made it, another rumour suggests that the visitors are a strong, batting side, while there has also been mention of the presence of a former Durham University captain whose name, unfortunately, nobody is able to recall.

And that's about it. All that we can be really sure is that this is NOT the County team - for Board, read recreational and you've it. How "recreational" we find out. Obviously, Angus Dunlop and his team will want to start where they left off in that impressive five-wicket win over Northemberland a few weeks back. There were some fine Irish batting performances that day, most notably from Neil Carson, Kyle McCallan and particularly Ed Joyce, as well as an excellent debut by the 19-year-old Donemana seamer, Dwayne McGerrigle.

McGerrigle took a wicket with his fourth delivery at this level of cricket. And though thereafter he suffered a bit of a belting, he captured three more vital wickets in his final over - truly, the stuff of schoolboy fiction.

Those good displays with bat and ball gave Ireland a first-ever NatWest Trophy victory in 20 years. So confidence should be high and a match against Leicestershire - with consequent additional toil for the Clontarf men - is certainly attainable.

Paddy O'Hara of the Muckamore club will make a bit of history at Comber today. He is the first Irishman to umpire a NatWest Trophy match.

Ireland: A Dunlop (YMCA) capt., K McCallan (Cliftonville), N Carson (Cliftonville), S Smyth (Brigade), G Dros (Cliftonville), A Patterson (Cliftonville and Sussex), E Joyce (Dublin University and Merrion), D McGerrigle (Donemana), R Eagleson (Carrickfergus), G Cooke (Brigade), M Dwyer (The Hills). 12th Man: B Archer (The Hills).

Essex Board: G Ecclestone (capt.), A Hibberd, N Carlier, A Richards, J Hinton, A MacKinlay, A Churchill, C Sharp, S Fitzgerald, T Jones, A Saeed. 12th Man: J Sparrow.

Umpires: P O'Hara, M Dickson.