Ireland in good shape after warm-up

CRICKET UNDER-19 WORLD CUP:WITH PLAYERS of the calibre of Kyle McCallan and Jeremy Bray retiring from the international ranks recently the message is clear to Ireland's talented under-19 side ahead of their World Cup campaign: perform and senior coach Phil Simmons will soon be calling.

Ireland get their campaign under way against South Africa in back-packing mecca of Queenstown on New Zealand’s south island on Friday morning. No Irish underage side has been better prepared, with a training camp in Sydney that saw former Australian bowler Geoff Lawson work with the Ireland coaching staff.

The side almost capped their preparations with a win over the West Indies in their final warm-up game in Christchurch on Tuesday, only for a late batting collapse to cost them a morale-boosting win.

Even still, coach Matt Dwyer took the positives out of the four-run defeat, pointing to the form of middle-order batsman James Shannon, whose innings of 83 brought Ireland so close.

“We were on top for 95 per cent of the game but ended up losing which is hard to take,” said former Ireland spinner Dwyer. “I thought James Shannon batted superbly, and he and Ben Ackland put us in the winning position, playing proper cricket and being focused.

“We’ll put this behind us, and go into our first group game with South Africa on Friday in a positive frame of mind,” he added.

Dwyer leads an experienced 15-strong panel that includes eight survivors from the 2008 event in Malaysia. Senior international Paul Stirling is seen as his most potent batting weapon, but the squad is full of talented stroke-makers from skipper Andrew Balbirnie and Lee Nelson at the top of the order to Ackland and Graham McDonnell, who are well able to win games from the middle order.

The hard decks at the Queenstown Events Centre should suit Ireland’s new-ball pairing of Shane Getkate and Craig Young, while North County’s Eddie Richardson will be hoping the experience of a winter in New Zealand last year will be to his advantage.

Ireland have considerable resources in the slow bowling department, with recent senior call-up George Dockrell leading the way. Balbirnie, Stirling, Nelson all well capable of taking wickets at this level.

Beaten finalists in 2008, South Africa are not expected to be amongst the front-runners this time around, while the Australian side that Ireland face on Sunday is also not considered a vintage crop.

USA, who were the only team to beat Ireland in the qualifying event in Canada last September, complete Ireland’s Group B schedule on Tuesday.

IRELAND UNDER-19 SQUAD:Andrew Balbirnie (Pembroke, capt), Ben Ackland (Merrion), Adrian D'Arcy (Clontarf), George Dockrell (Leinster), Eddie Richardson (North County), Graham McDonnell (Pembroke), Jordan Coghlan (Clontarf), Shane Getkate (Malahide), Graeme McCarter (Killyclooney), Lee Nelson (Waringstown), James Shannon (Instonians), Stuart Poynter (Middlesex), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Stuart Thompson (Eglinton), Craig Young (Bready).

Ireland's Group B Fixtures:January 15th: v South Africa. January 17th: v Australia. January 19th: v USA. Super League and Plate Competitions: January 23rd-30th.