Ireland, Scotland seek to set World Cup wheels in motion
by Ryan Bailey | Dublin

As far as World Cup groundwork is concerned, it’s difficult to gauge just how far along the process Ireland and Scotland currently find themselves at. Five months out from the start of cricket’s showpiece event and both could argue they are in good order owing to the form of their individual integrants. Yet, scratch beneath the surface and several pieces of their collective puzzles are still to be configured into place.

Since assuring themselves of a third successive World Cup appearance more than twelve months ago, Ireland have played just four One-Day Internationals - the last in early May - so this week’s three-game (8, 10, 12 September) series against their celtic neighbours in Dublin is a decisive juncture in their preparations.

Both countries will embark on trips to Australia and New Zealand, as part of the ICC’s High Performance Programme, later this month to finalise their plans, attune to conditions and put their means into practise but that stage is the last in the process. First and foremost, the wheels need to be set in motion.

What ought to have been a meticulous year and a half worth of planning and fine-tuning will be shoehorned into a fleeting five month period during which the right personnel need to be selected and a productive game plan implemented. The clock is ticking and there is little time to be wasted.

That being so, the absence of captain William Porterfield and four of the sides’ senior members - Ed Joyce, Niall O’Brien, Gary Wilson and Tim Murtagh - due to county commitments is far from ideal. It does, however, afford Phil Simmons and the selectors one last opportunity to run the rule over those players on the fringes of selection and finalise the make-up of the panel who will leave for Queensland at the end of September.

Scotland aren’t inhibited by the same level of absenteeism and arrive in Malahide on the back of a busy month under new coach Grant Bradburn during which a drawn series with Netherlands preceded a chastening string of results at the hands of New Zealand A.

Preston Mommsen has recovered from the finger injury that caused him to miss the two heavy reversals to the Black Caps and will add steel to a batting order that is devoid of the services of captain Kyle Coetzer, who along with Rob Taylor haven’t been released.

Majid Haq will become just the second player to reach the 200 appearance mark for Scotland while also overtaking Neil McCallum at the top of the ODI cap charts. It could be a memorable week for the 31-year-old, who requires just seven wickets to become Scotland’s leading wicket-taker.

The onus will, however, be on the bowlers. The Scottish attack were dismantled by New Zealand’s powerful top-order - the tourists raced along at seven runs an over in both completed matches - and it will be an area which they will be keen to address forthwith.

Iain Wardlaw is no longer on the books at Yorkshire but remains the central figure with his extra pace and bounce giving an otherwise undiversified attack an added dimension. “These games pose another big opportunity for these players to enhance their chances of making the plane to the World Cup in 2015,” Bradburn said.

“I’m looking forward to rubbing shoulders with our celtic cousins, and relishing the chance to experience a rivalry, which I’m told, is quite intense. It’ll be another chance for our players to perform in a high pressure environment.”
The same can be said about Ireland. Their bowling department is certainly the area in need of polishing with the sizable shoes of Trent Johnston yet to be filled nearly twelve months on from his retirement. Max Sorensen, along with Murtagh, are already assured of a place on the plane but the all-rounder’s berth is up for grabs with Australian conditions necessitating a third seamer to be deployed.

Both Gloucestershire's Graeme McCarter and Craig Young are in the running and are set for a final audition in Malahide with the former hoping to transfer his impressive showings in England onto the international stage. At the opposite end of the career spectrum, the return of John Mooney for the first time since he left the Caribbean in February with a stress-related illness is a boost but there is uncertainty whether his health will allow him to travel halfway around the world come the turn of the year.

“The players all know just how important this series is in terms of World Cup preparation, and the fact that it's Scotland gives it an extra edge,” Ireland’s stand-in captain O’Brien said.

“It'll be a tough series with so much at stake in terms of players making their claims for a World Cup place. We've proven ourselves time and time again against our fellow Associates over the past decade, so we'll be keen to reassert ourselves again.”

It can be argued that Scotland, on the back of qualifying through the last possible route at the start of the year, are all the better for the competitive obstacles they were forced to overcome to secure a berth in their third World Cup and first since 2007.

Indeed, they’ve certainly not had to deal with the fixture drought that has hindered Ireland’s planning. In the same period, they have played sixteen one-day games to Ireland’s paltry four and the visitors will seek to build up a head of steam against their familiar adversaries this week.

The two sides have played each other twelve times in the one-day format in a rivalry which stretches back to 1888. Ireland have won nine of those and all four which have taken place on the Emerald Isle. Come the World Cup, few are likely to recall the outcome of this series, yet the next week may just go along way to determining which players are on the plane to Australia/New Zealand and who is not.

Ireland Squad: Kevin O’Brien (captain), John Anderson, Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, John Mooney, Andrew McBrine, Graeme McCarter, Andrew Poynter, Stuart Poynter, Max Sorensen, Stuart Thompson, Andrew White, Craig Young.

Scotland Squad: Preston Mommsen (captain), Ali Evans, Calum MacLeod, Freddie Coleman, Hamish Gardiner, Iain Wardlaw, Josh Davey, Majid Haq, Matt Machan, Matthew Cross, Michael Leask, Richie Berrington, Safyaan Sharif.