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Irish boys Morgan and Rankin make the cut

ICC Europe


Ireland stars, Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin, have been announced by the ECB as 2 of the 54 players selected to attend the 2007 Skill Set Programme at the National Cricket Performance Centre (NCPC) in Loughborough. The programme will be fronted by John Abrahams, the ECB’s Elite Player Development Manager and runs from October 22 to December 21.

Morgan has had a flourishing cricket career to date representing Ireland at every level from the Under-13s. He captained the Irish team at the 2006 Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka finishing with an average of 67.60. He is a talented left-handed middle-order batman, who broke into the Middlesex first XI in 2006. He scored 209 against UAE in the 2007 Intercontinental Cup to put his side into the final and performed well in Kenya at the World Cricket League where he averaged 52.20 including his first ODI century against Canada, a superb 115 from 106 balls.

Rankin, a 6ft 8ins cattle and sheep farmer from Londonderry, showed impressive composure in the 2007 World Cup and finished the tournament as Ireland's leading wicket-taker with 12 wickets. He also had a success 2007 season with his county Warwickshire.

The Skill Set Programme has been borne out of the success of the Fast Bowling project overseen by Kevin Shine and the Spin Bowling programme developed by David Parsons. The sessions will be designed to fit into the players overall programme with their County and their inclusion means they have been identified as a player with outstanding promise in their specialist field.

David Houghton former Zimbabwe and Derbyshire coach has been invited to lead the Batting National Skill Sets sessions and Bruce French the former Nottinghamshire and England wicket keeper to lead in his specialism. Other coaches involved are Jack Birkenshaw (Spin), Mike Newell (Batting), Mike Hendrick and John Lever (Pace)

The following players have been selected for the programme:

BATTING
Michael Carberry, Hampshire
Billy Godleman, Middlesex
William Jefferson, Nottinghamshire
Tom  Maynard, Glamorgan
Eoin Morgan, Middlesex
Sam Northeast, Kent 
Daniel Redfern, Derbyshire 
Joe Sayers, Yorkshire 
James Taylor, Worcestershire 
Alex Wakely, Northamptonshire 
Tom  Westley, Essex 
Greg Wood, Yorkshire 

PACE
Bud Bailey, Northamptonshire 
Maurice Chambers, Essex 
Jade Dernbach, Surrey 
Danny Evans, Middlesex 
Luke Evans, Durham 
Steven Finn, Middlesex 
David Griffiths, Hampshire 
James Harris, Glamorgan 
James Iles, Kent 
James Lee, Yorkshire 
Chris Liddle, Sussex 
Stuart Meaker, Surrey 
Boyd Rankin, Warwickshire 
Tom Smith, Lancashire 
Mark Turner, Somerset 
Mervyn Westfield, Essex 
Robert Williams, Sussex 
Chris  Woakes, Warwickshire 

SPIN
Vikram Banerjee, Gloucestershire 
William Beer, Sussex 
Danny Briggs, Hampshire 
Matthew Gitsham, Gloucestershire 
Moneeb Iqbal, Durham 
Mark Lawson, Yorkshire 
Christopher Morgan, Hampshire 
Michael Munday, Somerset
Azeem Rafiq, Yorkshire 
Oliver Rayner, Sussex 
David Wainwright, Yorkshire 
Thomas Winslade, Surrey 

WICKET KEEPING
Michael Bates, Hampshire 
Sam Billings, Kent 
Ben  Brown, Sussex 
Paul Dixey, Kent 
Andrew Hodd, Sussex 
Craig Kieswetter, Somerset 
Tom New, Leicestershire 
Thomas Poynton, Derbyshire 
Christopher Prowting, Essex 
Ben Scott, Middlesex 
John Simpson, Lancashire 
Adam Wheater, Essex