O'Rourke looks for big scalp

Cricket/Under-19 World Cup: Coach Brian O'Rourke has challenged Ireland to claim the scalp of a Test-playing nation at the Under-19 World Cup and their best chance of doing so could come tomorrow against England in the opening match of the 16-team tournament in Malaysia.

O'Rourke said: "There is often a surprise package among the less-fancied teams at these events - two years ago it was Nepal - and this time I'm hoping it will be us."

If it were a senior tournament and Ireland had been drawn in the same group as England, Bangladesh and Bermuda, there would be a strong chance of finishing in the top two and reaching the Super Series quarter-finals that begin a week tomorrow.

Bangladesh are, however, much stronger at this level and while expecting to beat Bermuda, who qualified from the Americas section, Ireland will also need to get past an England side that contains a number of quality players, like Middlesex's Billy Godleman, already making a name for themselves in county cricket.

"We know it's going to be a tough ask - and that everything will have to go right for us on the day - but it can be done," said O'Rourke.

The four survivors in the Ireland squad from the last under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, including skipper Greg Thompson, who is playing in his third tournament, know the task is not beyond them as two years ago Ireland lost to England on the last ball.

But O'Rourke's team will have to play a lot better than they did in crashing to a 181-run defeat by New Zealand in their final warm-up match on Wednesday, when only opener Paul Stirling, with a classy 72 from 50 balls, offered any sort of resistance.

The heat and humidity in Kuala Lumpur, where they play all three group matches, have not helped preparations, admits O'Rourke: "The lads have been struggling with the conditions - and coming out of an Irish winter, even wearing blazers at the opening ceremony was a challenge. We stopped off in Bombay for five days on the way over, and while the cricket there was good - and we needed it because we hadn't played as a team since August - the temperatures were down in the low 20s so it wasn't great preparation."

The heat will be truly on at the Bayuemas Oval tomorrow because if England win O'Rourke could already be looking at next week's Plate Competition.

IRELAND (squad): Greg Thompson (capt) (Lisburn), Ben Ackland (Merrion/Northants), Andrew Balbirnie (Pembroke), Andrew Britton (Donemana), Christopher Dougherty (Bready), Shane Getkate (Malahide), James Hall (Waringstown), Richard Keaveney (Merrion), Theo Lawson ( Pembroke), Graham McDonnell (Pembroke), Gavin McKenna (North Down), Lee Nelson (Waringtown), Stuart Poynter (wkt) (Clontarf/Middlesex), James Shannon (Instonians), Paul Stirling (Cliftonville).

SCHEDULE: Tomorrow (Sunday): Ireland v England; Feb 20th: Ireland v Bangladesh; Feb 21: Ireland v Bermuda; Feb 24th-Mar 2nd: Super Series; Feb 24th-Mar 1st: Plate competition.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times