23 year old opening bowler Ravi Rampaul of Trinidad and West Indies is the player concerned, and he will go straight into action for the Bank Holiday Weekend’s games against Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.
The game on Sunday will see Simmons return to Grace Road, a ground which has happy memories for him. Last May Ireland defended their Intercontinental Cup crown with a win inside two days against Canada.
Also in 1996 Simmons played the starring role as he guided Leicestershire to theCounty Championship. In addition to scoring 1244 runs, he also claimed 56 wickets and took 35 catches to claim the title. His all round performance saw him being awarded the accolade of Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.
Simmons said of the capture of Rampaul, “He’s played 30 times for theWest Indies in One Day Internationals, and you don’t do that unless you can play a bit. He’s a very useful bowler, with plenty of pace and movement. He has a passion for the game, and loves to play. He’s also a competitive type of player, which I like. He’ll bring a lot to the dressing room.”
The only change to the squad is that Rampaul replaces Andre Botha who has been left out of the squad with injury. Simmons said, “Andre (Botha) has had tests on Monday, and had a scan yesterday. He has had elbow and ankle injuries for some time now. In Bangladesh he was able to bowl, but he couldn’t do that on Sunday against Nottinghamshire.”
“It’s better for him and Ireland to get this sorted now. We have some huge tournaments over the next year, and our priority is to get him right for not just the Twenty20 World Cup Qualifiers in August, but the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in UAE next April. He’s played a lot of cricket over the past 16 months, and the rest will do him a power of good.”
On MondayIreland face Northants in a fixture which will see Irelandplaying against Niall O’Brien. The wicket-keeper batsman is no stranger to facing his fellow countrymen, having been part of the Kent side which defeated Ireland in 2006.
The squad in full is as follows: W Porterfield(Gloucestershire), A Cusack (Clontarf), P Eaglestone (Strabane), T Fourie (Railway Union), J Hall, G Kidd, K McCallan (all Waringstown), K O’Brien (Railway Union), R Rampaul (Overseas player), P Stirling (Cliftonville), R Strydom (North County), A White (Instonians), G Wilson (Surrey).
