Cricket Ireland name World Cup squad

Cricket Ireland today announced their preliminary squad for the 2011 World Cup which is being held in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka from February 19 to April 2.

Coach Phil Simmons has named 22 players in this initial squad, which will be reduced to 15 by the ICC deadline of January 19.

It is as expected a very experienced squad, with seven players currently attached to English counties.

One of those is of course Ed Joyce, who was granted special dispensation by the ICC to participate in the tournament. Eight of the line up played for Ireland in the last 50 over World Cup in the West Indies in 2007.

Coach Phil Simmons said of his squad: “There are no surprises in the 22, as we’ve had a fairly settled squad this past year. Our training camp in India last month went well and it was fantastic preparation for the conditions which we’ll be facing when the tournament starts.

“There’s a lot of experience in the squad, but that’s balanced by the fact we’ve got a few exciting youngsters as well. Both Paul Stirling and George Dockrell have turned in some great performances in 2010, and the World Cup will be a great stage for them.”

Regan West (shoulder) and Boyd Rankin (foot) are both recovering from injury.

Simmons said: “Boyd is bowling again and on track to be fully fit for the tournament. Regan is working hard after his shoulder operations, and will undergo a final fitness assessment before the final squad is announced – we’re still hopeful that he’ll make it.”

Ireland will travel to Dubai in January for a pre World Cup training camp, and have scheduled warm-up games against New Zealand and Zimbabwe in Nagpur before their first game in the competition proper against Bangladesh in Dhaka on February 25.

Ireland has been drawn in a group alongside Bangladesh, India, England, the Netherlands, South Africa and West Indies.

The preliminary squad in full is as follows:

William Porterfield (Warwickshire) (Captain)

Andre Botha (North County)

Alex Cusack (Clontarf)

George Dockrell (Leinster)

Phil Eaglestone (Strabane)

Allan Eastwood (Pembroke)

James Hall (Waringstown)

Trent Johnston (Railway Union)

Nigel Jones (Civil Service North)

Ed Joyce (Sussex)

Rory McCann (Instonians)

John Mooney (North County)

Kevin O’Brien (Railway Union)

Niall O’Brien (Northants)

Andrew Poynter (Clontarf)

Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire)

Paul Stirling (Middlesex)

Albert van der Merwe (The Hills)

Regan West (Civil Service North)

Gary Wilson (Surrey)

Andrew White (Instonians)

Craig Young (Sussex).