Ireland, Canada prepare to battle for ICC Intercontinental Cup

Dubai, May 16 (UNI) After a fairytale debut in the World Cup, Ireland is all geared up to take on Canada in the final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, ICC's flagship first-class event for the leading Associate teams.

Trent Johnston's side has already put cricket on the map in Ireland, thanks to a stellar ICC Cricket World Cup in which the side beat Pakistan and Bangladesh and tied with Zimbabwe, not only reaching the Super Eight stage of the tournament but also achieving a place in the ICC ODI Championship table for the first time.

Since returning home, results have perhaps understandably been less impressive in the England and Wales Cricket Board's Friends Provident Trophy against English county sides.

But given Ireland is the defending champion in the ICC Intercontinental Cup, having secured the prize by beating Kenya in Namibia in late 2005, the resurgent team would love to assert their supremacy in the competition.

Ireland will be without two of its Caribbean heroes, wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien and opening bowler Boyd Rankin, who have commitments with their county teams, Northamptonshire and Derbyshire respectively.

Under the leadership of new captain Ashish Bagai, Canada still retain the experience of former skipper and off-spinning all-rounder John Davison, batsman Geoff Barnett and another all-rounder in Austin Codrington.

Bagai took over from Davison following the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) in the West Indies and although he is only 25 years of age, the wicketkeeper-batsman has established himself as one of Canada's top performers and has already played 29 ODIs and seven first-class matches for his country.

As for the coaches, Ireland are under the stewardship of Phil Simmons, the former West Indies all-rounder only recently having taken over from Adrian Birrell, while Canada will be biding farewell to Andy Pick following the match after the former England A seam bowler led it through the recent ICC CWC campaign.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup began in 2004 to give the leading players from Associate sides the chance to improve by exposing them to a longer form of the game.

Teams : Canada: Ashish Bagai (captain), Abdool Samad, Ashif Mulla, Austin Codrington, Geoff Barnett, Henry Osinde, John Davison, Kevin Sandher, Naresh Patel, Sandeep Jyoti, Trevin Bastiampillai, Umar Bhatti, Qaiser Ali. Coach: Andy Pick.

Ireland: Trent Johnston (captain), Jeremy Bray, William Porterfield, Eoin Morgan, Kevin O'Brien, Gary Wilson, Peter Gillespie, Andrew White, Kyle McCallan, Davie Langford-Smith, Thinus Fourie, Kenny Carroll, Roger Whelan. Coach: Phil Simmons.

UNI