Ireland must be on top form to push the world's best all the way

CRICKET/Ireland v Australia:THE EARLY arrivals in Clontarf for today's RSA Challenge One-Day International between Ireland and world champions Australia might be slightly perplexed with the sight of international rugby referee Alan Lewis trying to keep order in the traditional warm-up game of tag between the home players.

The former Irish cricket captain has been drafted in after a call from wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien to make sure everything is above board in the contest that pits the “oldies” against the “youngies”.

As always the rugby run-out is going to be competitive, but what O’Brien and the rest of his Ireland team-mates will be striving for most is to push the best one-day team of the last decade all the way when the main event of the day gets under way at 10.45am.

The couldn’t have a better stage to do it on, the fine weather having guaranteed a 4,500 sell-out at Castle Avenue, while the Setanta cameras see a welcome return to live television of an Ireland home game.

There was one hiccup to Ireland’s preparations yesterday with news that all-rounder Andre Botha has been ruled out with a suspected stress fracture to his back.

The North County player is believed to have picked up the injury playing for Ireland A against a Sussex second XI last week and is set to be sidelined for at least six weeks.

Ireland coach Phil Simmons confirmed, though, that Niall O’Brien has been passed fit despite problems with his left index finger and, that he will take his customary spot behind the wickets.

Simmons repeated his mantra that if his side play to the best of their abilities it allows no room for any Australian complacency. But the former West Indies star knows games against the best are still huge learning experiences for his players regardless of the result.

“We’re playing the number one team in the world and what you get out of this game is massive, and it would be bigger than that if we can pull off a victory over Australia,” said Simmons.

Long gone are the days game’s like this were little more than a beer match for visiting teams, who would rock into town the night before, get stuck into the local hospitality and hostelries and cane Ireland around the park the next day.

The Australians have been in the country since last Saturday and, after some initial RR, have applied their customary meticulous approach in training over the last few days.

“I guess it has been a bit more fun, to tell the truth,” admitted Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. “It always takes you a couple of days to get over the flight. But since we’ve clicked back into cricket mode it’s been preparation as it always would be.

“We never take any game, or any training day, for granted, which is a really good attitude of our team. The guys have trained really hard yesterday and we’ll be ready for tomorrow, it’s a One-Day International and we’ll be taking it seriously, don’t worry about that.”

Ponting also made a telling contribution on the risks of England’s strategy of recruiting players such as former Ireland star Eoin Morgan into their ranks. He believes the International Cricket Council (ICC) should be concerned.

“I think the ICC should be worried about that as far as trying to develop countries like Ireland and having some of their best young players poached.

“If the ICC look at that and are fair dinkum about Ireland continuing to grow as a nation and maybe one day being a Test-playing nation, they can’t afford to have their better players going off at a young age.”

An argument for another day perhaps, and with Australia planning to name a full-strength side this morning, there’s work to do.

SQUADS

IRELAND: William Porterfield (Gloucestershire, capt), Peter Connell (North Down), Alex Cusack (Clontarf), Trent Johnston (Railway Union), Gary Kidd (Waringstown), John Mooney (North County), Kevin O’Brien (Railway Union), Niall O’Brien (Northants), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Andrew White (Instonians), Gary Wilson (Surrey).

AUSTRALIA: Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris, Nathan Hauritz, Josh Hazlewood, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Clint McKay, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Steven Smith, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

Umpires: N Llong (Eng), R Kettleborough (Eng).