Irish openers on the ball

Cricket Column: For any cricket team to complete consistently well over a protracted period of time, it needs to have an opening pair that can register a solid total before the first wicket falls.

Not that he needed it, of course, but Don Bradman usually had the luxury of going into bat long after Woodfull and Ponsford had taken the shine off the new ball and the enthusiasm off the fielding side.

It is no coincidence that all the great Test sides had great opening batsmen: Hobbes and Sutcliffe, Hutton and Edrich, Greenwich and Haynes, Hayden and Langer . . . Ireland's Molins and Bray? Well, you won't find the last two in Ritchie Benaud's team of the millennium and it is a little cheeky to include them among some of the most revered names in the game but the premise is the same whether it is an Ashes Test match or a junior league friendly: get off to a good start and you will win matches.

Their opening stand of 103, made in good time against Surrey last week, paved the way for one of those rare moments in Irish sport - and even rarer in Irish cricket - when we achieve a victory that few had dared to contemplate. Beating a top county side like Surrey in the C&G Trophy is an enormous confidence boost for this team that already has qualification for the 2007 World Cup in its sights.

There can be no doubt the fact Jason Molins and Jeremy Bray open the batting together for the same club as well as on the international stage has been a major factor in the success of their partnership.

"We have a good understanding of each other's game, playing week in and week out for Phoenix," said Ireland captain Molins during his club's game against The Hills on Saturday. Ironically, Bray and Molins were dismissed in that game with just four runs on the board. "The left-right combination is beneficial, we complement the other's style and we run very well between the wickets. I think in all the times we have batted together, we have had one run-out," said Molins.

These players are very attacking so it is interesting to watch them as they seem to alternate between aggressor and defender. Molins scored his 58 runs against Surrey in 57 balls while Bray faced 93 deliveries for his 52. Next time they bat, those roles could be reversed.

"You never see two guys going off at the same time. Usually, if one batsman is going after the bowling, the other is happy just to play off that," said Bray, who learned his cricket in Sydney's St George club, which boasts such legendary former players as Bradman and Bill O'Reilly.

And the game plan for the pair in the third round of the C&G Trophy against Northamptonshire on May 30th? More of the same. "We just have to focus on our own game. The key is putting them under pressure in all departments. We have nothing to lose but I think we have a genuinely good team and we will test them. In my time as captain and with Adi (Birrell, national coach), we have tried to instil a bit of belief in the team and set our standards a bit higher," said Molins.

So when Molins and Bray stride purposefully out to the Castle Avenue square to face Keppler Wessels' Northants at the end of the month, don't be surprised if it takes them a while to come back in. Make no mistake, these guys believe they can win through to the quarter-final of the competition.

And that's just for openers.