Ireland fine tune their cup plans

The Irish warm up in the capital ahead of the Intercontinental Cup game against Afghanistan and the quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka.

The Ireland team are put through their paces at the Zayed Cricket Academy ahead of their match with Afghanistan in Sri Lanka.

ABU DHABI // Ireland put the finishing touches to their preparation at the Zayed Cricket Academy yesterday before flying to Sri Lanka today for their opening match of the ICC Intercontinental Cup. Ireland will play Afghanistan in a four-day cup match at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, starting on Thursday, and then participate in a four-team Twenty20 tournament involving Sri Lanka A, Afghanistan and Canada, as part of their preparation for the ICC World T20 qualifiers in UAE next month.

"The two days in Abu Dhabi will surely benefit the players before we travel to Sri Lanka," said the coach Phil Simmons. "The first game is always the hardest, especially for a team coming from freezing weather conditions. We play Afghanistan and they are a pretty good side. "We are looking forward to playing good cricket and that's what is important to us. The first part of the tour is to concentrate on the four-day game and then switch on to the shorter format so that we can be ready for the ICC qualifiers."

Paul Sterling, the batsman, and the left-arm spinner George Dockrell will be promoted from the Under 19 squad for the T20 leg of the tour while Boyd Rankin, the fast bowler, should be fit for the T20 qualifiers. "He is recovering from a foot injury and is set to join the squad in Dubai. Paul and George are young players with tremendous potential," said the team manager Roy Torrens, Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, John Mooney, Kevin O'Brien and Stirling have all been awarded A contracts by Cricket Ireland while their three English county players, Niall O'Brien, Rankin and William Porterfield - along with Andrew White - received B contracts, Five others, yet to be named, will received C contracts.

"Cricket has got recognition after Ireland's performance at the 2007 World Cup," added Torrens. "The players are given new contracts and this certainly is a step forward." @Email:[e-mail]