ICC World Cup 2011: Ireland announces World Cup squad
Cricket Ireland announced their 15-man squad on Wednesday for the 2011 World Cup that is scheduled to begin from 19 February in the sub-continent.
There were no surprises in Ireland’s squad as the selection panel picked up a more experienced squad.
Ed Joyce makes a return to the Irish squad after being granted a special dispensation by the ICC to participate in the World Cup this year.
Joyce is the most experienced player of the lot as he has played for both English and Irish national squads. The Irish player featured in the 2007 World Cup squad of England but had a lacklustre stint. Joyce made the decision to not play for Ireland in 2001
in order to play for Test format of cricket as Ireland had not gained the Test status by the ICC.
The 32-year-old left-handed batsman has been playing county cricket and is currently in a three-year contract with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sussex-c852. Joyce had his last international appearance in 2007 and has played 17 One Day matches for England with an average of 27.70.
The squad will be led by William Porterfield who returns as the captain after succeeding Trent Johnston in 2008. Porterfield headlined the 2007 World Cup when they won against minnows http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 during a qualifying round.
Porterfield was the obvious choice to lead the team as he is continuing his first-class form since 2009. He won the Associate and Affiliate Player of Year in 2009 after scoring his maiden first class century to win the 2007-08 ICC Inter-continental Cup.
Nine players, including Porterfield, who took part in the 2007 tournament in West Indies, will be featured in the 2011 World Cup.
Former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 batsman and current Irish coach, Phil Simmons expressed his satisfaction with the 15 man squad saying that he likes the “balance” of the squad.
“As with most Irish teams of the past few years, there are quite a few all rounder and that gives us plenty of options in all departments,” Simmons reckoned.
He backed the squad saying that it is not possible to write them off in such an early stage. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the same World Cup at league stage.
“I’m certain we will acquit ourselves well,” he said saying that the squad might have lost the surprise factor in recent times but the team has put in a lot of hard work to earn the respect over the years.
Ireland will be travelling to Dubai, U.A.E, to attend a training camp organized by the ICC followed by warm-up matches against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 in the sub-continent.
Ireland World Cup squad: William Porterfield (captain), Trent Johnston, Alex Cusack, Andre Botha, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, Nigel Jones, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/George-Dockrell-c59135, Boyd Rankin, Albert
van der Merwe, Andrew White.
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