Sunday 16 March 2008

Ireland arrive in Dhaka

Less than twelve hours after South Africa cricket team left Dhaka after whitewashing Bangladesh in both Test and one-day series, Ireland arrived in the city on Saturday to play three one-day matches against the hosts.
The 15-member Ireland team, led by all-rounder Trent Johnston, will play the first match of the series against Bangladesh at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on March 18.
Ireland are ranked just behind Bangladesh in the one-day charts and also defeated the Tigers in last years World Cup, which gave an added value to the series that has been deemed trivial otherwise.
We have come here to play good cricket and we are confident that we can do it. It would be nice if we can cause another upset like the World Cup, skipper Johnston told reporters at the airport.
We know the pitches will be low and slow here. But we are prepared for it. We have a couple of good spinners who can exploit the slow nature of the wicket. They also showed form in the last few weeks, he added.
The Ireland squad has only eight players Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, Andre Botha, David Langford-Smith, Eoin Morgan, Kevin OBrien, Niall OBrien and William Porterfield who played against Bangladesh in the World Cup.
Of them, Porterfield, the vice-captain of the side, was the architect of Irelands 74-run win over Bangladesh having scored 85 off 136 balls.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board will earn at least Tk 34 lakh from the series. Of the money, title sponsor Ispahani Mirzapore Tea will provide Tk 18 lakh while the rest of the amount will be coming from the fields perimeter billboards.
It was revealed at a press conference on Saturday. BCB members Shafiqur Rahman and Ishtiaque Ahmad and Mirza Ali Behrouze Ispahani, the chairman of Ispahani Group, spoke, among others, at the press conference.
Squad: Trent Johnston (captain), William Porterfield (vice-captain), Kyle McCallan, Kevin Brien, Niall OBrien, Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Reinhardt Strydom, Thinus Fourie, Gary Kidd, Greg Thompson, Eoin Morgan, Paul Stirling, David Langford-Smith and Phil Eaglestone.

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