Morgan named captain for Ireland match

Eoin Morgan will captain England with Alastair Cook
one of a number of senior players being rested 

Eoin Morgan will captain England for the first time in career when he faces his former countrymen, Ireland, in a one-off ODI in Dublin next week.

Morgan, who did not play in England's sensational World Cup defeat against Ireland in Bangalore due to injury, will lead a new-look 13-man squad including several up-and-coming members of the England Lions, after the selectors decided to rest a number of its senior players ahead of the five-match ODI series against India later this month,

Leicestershire's James Taylor, Yorkshire's Jonathan Bairstow and Durham's Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick all recently featured in the England Lions' ODI series win over Sri Lanka A. None of them has yet been selected in a senior international, but with Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, James Anderson and Stuart Broad among the key absentees, a draft of debutants can be expected in the fixture.

"The squad we're looking to take to Ireland involves a number of exciting young England players as we rest several players currently involved in the npower Test series against India," said the national selector, Geoff Miller.

"By resting several players that have played international cricket since the start of the summer the opportunity has arisen for a number of talented up and coming players to continue their development on the international stage. We know from previous encounters that Ireland are a tough ODI outfit and we'll be fielding a very strong England side that will need to play well.

"We're also presented with the opportunity to provide Eoin Morgan with further leadership experience and I know he is very much looking forward to assuming the captaincy and developing his leadership credentials while in charge of a young England squad."

One senior player who will making the trip is Jonathan Trott, who has recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained during the second Test at Trent Bridge, and is expected to be fit to play. His replacement in the third and fourth Tests, Ravi Bopara, also makes the trip, as do Steven Finn and Graham Onions, the two unused fast bowlers from the Oval Test squad.

Last week it was confirmed that Andy Flower, the team director, would also be missing the trip to Ireland. He will link up with the squad ahead of the Twenty20 international against India on August 31. In his absence, England's assistant coach Richard Halsall will take charge.

Morgan, who is England's official Twenty20 vice-captain, becomes the fourth England captain of the 2011 summer, following on from the Test skipper Andrew Strauss, the regular ODI captain Cook, and Stuart Broad, the Twenty20 captain.

It promises to be a tough baptism against an Ireland side who came uncomfortably close to winning their last bilateral fixture against England, at Belfast in 2009. That match, which took place in the immediate aftermath of the Ashes victory at The Oval, finished with England sneaking over the line by three runs, only after Morgan, fielding as a substitute at long-on, parried a Trent Johnston six back into play with one ball of the match remaining.

Squad Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonathan Bairstow, Ravi Bopara, Scott Borthwick, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Graham Onions, Samit Patel, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes

Pakistan win second ODI against Ireland

Pakistan completed a 2-0 one-day international series win over Ireland in Belfast with victory by five wickets at Stormont on Monday that rounded off eight months on the road.

Pakistan beat Ireland by five wickets in the second one-day international at Stormont to take the two-match series 2-0. © AFP

Pakistan, set a target of 239, won with eight balls to spare thanks mainly to half-centuries from Younus Khan (64) and Umar Akmal (60 not out). The World Cup semi-finalists have been unable to play any major matches at home since an armed attack on Sri Lanka's tour bus in Lahore in March 2009 made the country a 'no-go zone' for the world's leading teams.
But there were few signs of travel-weariness against Ireland.
Only Mohammad Hafeez, dismissed in the second over without scoring, failed but Taufiq Umar and Azhar Ali, in his first one-day international, shared 65 for the second wicket to put Pakistan back on course.
Younus Khan played the decisive innings with 64 from 74 balls, including four fours and a six.
He shared stands of 68 for the fourth wicket with captain Misbah-ul-Haq and 69 for the fifth with Akmal, who faced just 48 balls and hit six fours and a six.
The Ireland bowlers stuck to their task well with Boyd Rankin the most economical, conceding just 29 runs in his nine overs and also ending the innings of Azhar Ali, caught at slip by Paul Stirling.
It was Stirling who was named man-of-the-match after setting up the contest with a wonderfully entertaining 109, his first century against a Full Member nation, to follow ODI hundreds against Canada and, at the recent World Cup, the Netherlands.
At the interval, Pakistan would have been delighted to be chasing only 239.
Ireland, skittled out for 96 during Pakistan's seven-wicket win in Saturday's series opener, were on course for a substantial total while the 20-year-old Stirling was at the crease.
The batsman, who plays for English county Middlesex, made 109 off just 107 balls with four sixes and seven fours.
But when he was fourth out for 182 at the start of the 44th over, Ireland failed to kick-on.
The hosts lost momentum during the one rain interruption in the innings, after 37 overs, with Ireland on 159 for two.
Ireland took their batting powerplay two overs after the resumption but Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan bowled five excellent overs which brought two wickets and yielded only 23 runs.
Junaid, Saturday's man-of-the-match with four wickets, finished with two for 53 but the majority of those runs came in his first spell when Stirling was on the rampage.
The 21-year-old left-arm paceman got his revenge in the powerplay when he bowled Stirling and he followed up with wicket of Gary Wilson, in the last over, for 33.
Off-spinner Ajmal was Pakistan's most successful bowler with four for 35.
His haul included Kevin O'Brien, scorer of the fastest-ever World Cup century during Ireland's shock win over England in Bangalore in March.
AFP

Kevin O'Brien set to join Gloucestershire

Kevin O'Brien's best moment came when he led Ireland to a win over England at CWC 2011

Ireland's Cricket World Cup 2011 sensation Kevin O'Brien has joined Gloucestershire for the rest of the season, the English county announced on Tuesday.

In March, O'Brien scored the fastest-ever World Cup century, reaching the landmark in just 50 balls against England in Bangalore to set up a thrilling group stage win for Ireland over their old rivals.

The 27-year-old all-rounder, who has previously played for Nottinghamshire, joins a growing list of Ireland players at county sides with his brother Niall at Northamptonshire, Ireland captain William Porterfield and Boyd Rankin both at Warwickshire and teenage spinner George Dockrell on Somerset's staff.

An excited Kevin O'Brien said in a statement: "I am looking forward to getting over there and hopefully helping the team to achieve its goals in all forms of the game, but especially t20 and one-day cricket."

"Hopefully I can have a great season, help Gloucestershire win trophies and improve my game even further."

Gloucestershire director of cricket John Bracewell said: "We are delighted to have signed Kevin O'Brien to our squad with particular reference to his one day skills."

"Given his heroics in the World Cup the Gladiators have a genuine lion slayer in their midst," the former New Zealand off-spinner and coach added.

O'Brien can also look forward to the prospect of playing in Sri Lanka's Twenty20 tournament later this year. "I'm still not 100 percent who I'll be playing for in Sri Lanka, although I have been told that (Sri Lanka's) Sanath Jayasuriya will be the team's captain, and that Darren Bravo (West Indies) and Lonwabo Tsotosbe (South Africa) will also be on the team."

"It's going to be a magnificent experience, and hopefully I'll acquit myself well in what's sure to be a terrific tournament."

Ireland U-19 star Dockrell set for bigger things

George Dockrell appeals for the key scalp of Sachin Tendulkar during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Outside of the Test world, one bowler who really impressed during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was Ireland left-arm spinner George Dockrell.

At 18, Dockrell has already featured in 22 One-Day Internationals for Ireland. But it was at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 that Dockrell really shot into prominence.

His best spell to date has been against the Netherlands when he picked up 4-35 at Amstelveen against the hosts.

He picked up seven wickets in six matches at an average of 29.57, giving away 4.43 runs per over.

Dockrell's bowling came in for special praise for he bowled at some of the world's leading batsmen and held his own brilliantly.

His special moment came when he snapped up India's legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar at a key moment in a tense chase at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Dockrell injured his shoulder in the final league game against the Netherlands and that delayed the start of his county stint with Somerset.

Dockrell had already featured in 16 ODIs before the start of Cricket World Cup 2011, and had been marked out as a bowler to watch out for.

Ireland selectors picked Dockrell to lead the under-19 side at last year's European Under-19 Championships in Belfast, Northern Lead.

Ireland finished second on the points table, behind Scotland, but Dockrell walked away with all the bowling honours.

Dockrell picked up 17 wickets in five games at an outstanding average of 6.29 giving away just 2.40 runs per over. His best spell was 5 for 34 against the Netherlands.

Since this outstanding performance in the Europe anU-19 Championships, Dockrell has moved onto bigger things in his cricketing career.

Botha announces retirement

Andre Botha calls it a day

Cricket Ireland has announced today that Andre Botha has retired from international cricket.

The 35-year-old has played no fewer than 141 times for his country, although injury has restricted his appearances in recent seasons.

In a glittering career which coincided with Ireland’s emergence on the global stage, Andre Botha scored 3606 runs at an average of 27.74, which puts him sixth in the all-time aggregate list. He scored 13 half centuries and six hundreds, with a highest score of 186 against Scotland in 2007.

Botha also holds the record partnership for Ireland – 360 for the third wicket with Eoin Morgan against the UAE in 2007.

He also excelled with the ball for Ireland, taking 176 wickets an average of just 21.99, which sees him occupy eighth place on the all-time rankings. His best bowling figures of 4 for 19 came against Kenya in an ODI in 2008, but it will be his spell of 2 for 5 in the 2007 World Cup win against Pakistan for which he is best remembered.

He explained just why he had decided to retire saying: “I have given this matter serious and long consideration, but ultimately have come to the conclusion that the time is right now. I can assure you it’s a matter I haven’t taken lightly, but sometimes your body makes up your mind for you.

"I'd like to put on record my thanks to Warren Deutrom and all of the Cricket Ireland staff. You have all been a great help and support during my time playing for Ireland. Although I don't want single out individuals for fear of forgetting somebody, forgive me if I do. There are a few people I would like to give a special mention to. Adi Birrell was there at start of my international career, and I will never have enough words to thank and praise this man for what he did for myself and Irish Cricket.

"I would also like to thank the current coach Phil Simmons for his support and help over the last number of years and assistant coach Pete Johnston for all his hard work behind the scenes. That's not to forget my two best friends in Irish cricket, physios Knoxy (Iain Knox) and Kieran (O'Reilly). You two certainly earned your money over the years!!! Finally who can forget Roy Torrens - many a problem sorted out over a quiet drink or two (sorry Roy!!)

"To the older heads that have been with me from the start of my journey TJ, JB, Kylie, Whitey, Mooners ,Polish, John Boy, Nobby, Kev, Purdy, Boyd & Lanky(Lanky thanks for getting me in so much trouble over the years!). It's been a great journey - we achieved dreams that many thought impossible. To the rest of the players who played with me for Ireland -it's been fantastic - keep it going.

"It's hard to pick a special memory from my Irish career, as every time I have put on the green jersey has been a personal highlight. I just want to thank some of my very close friends for their support and belief over the years - you know who you are.

"Lastly and most importantly to my lovely wife Yvonne for all the sacrifices she has made on behalf of my cricket career - thank you so much. Love you. I hope I didn't forget anybody - if I did, I apologise. Keep fighting the fight for 2015.”

Ireland coach Phil Simmons led the tributes to Andre Botha saying: "Andre has been an integral part of this Irish team's success since his debut way back in 2001. He will be sorely missed, not only for his cleverly disguised slower balls or his trademark square cuts, but for his total dedication to the cause and the team. His courage continuing to represent Ireland with the different injuries he's endured over the last couple of years has been incredible, and shows just what a big heart he has.

"On behalf of the Irish team I want to wish Andre all the best for the future, and I hope his invaluable experience will not be lost to Irish cricket.”

Former coach Adrian Birrell praised Botha's role in Irish cricket reaching tenth place in the world rankings saying: ''There comes a time for every player and sadly Andre has decided this is the right time to retire. He has been a colossal player for Ireland in the past decade.

"I had the great good fortune that Andre had completed his qualification terms when I arrived and he became one of the major players around whom I built the team during my tenure as National Coach. His all round ability was invaluable and he made many match winning contributions. His ability to take care of the back end of the power plays and the partnership with Kyle McCallan in building pressure in the middle overs was crucial to our success.

"I remember vividly his runs securing our future in defeating Denmark in 2002, the great victory winning the ICC Intercontinental Cup against Kenya in 2005 and his record partnership with Eoin Morgan against UAE in 2007 which paved the way for the successful 2007 World Cup campaign, and who can forget his spell in the famous Pakistan victory.

"I value Andre as a cricketer and more importantly as a friend. I have no doubt he will continue to make a contribution to Cricket Ireland. Congratulations Andre on a great career - your contribution to Irish Cricket will be remembered and appreciated for a very long time.'