Ashes Heroes Angry and Frustrated Against Ireland

London: Six of England's Ashes-winning heroes flew to Ireland last night for a match that has left them angry and frustrated.

They believe it is ridiculous they must play a one-day international in Belfast tomorrow in the same week as their epic win over the Aussies at The Oval.

The players already have a packed schedule of two Twenty20 matches and seven one-dayers against Australia in the next three weeks.

The ECB, however, insists England must face Ireland and Scotland in alternate years to spread the cricket gospel in those countries.

Wicketkeeper Matt Prior admitted: "It's not ideal. But the boys have got their heads around it and now we're concentrating on the job."

Andrew Strauss is having a break, so Paul Collingwood will captain the team. The five other travelling Oval stars are Jonathan Trott, Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson.

Team news

England squad (from): Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood (C), Owais Shah, Matt Prior (WK), Luke Wright, Joe Denly, James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Eoin Morgan, Andrew Flintoff, Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan.

Ireland squad (from): Alex Cusack, Andre Botha, Andrew White, William Porterfield (C), Boyd Rankin, Gary Wilson, John Mooney, Kevin O'Brien, Kyle McCallan, Niall O'Brien (WK), Paul Stirling, Regan West, Trent Johnston.

Pitch and conditions
England and Ireland both topped 260 in their last encounter in 2006, and the Stormont surface has a reputation as a batting track. The outfield, however, is currently boggy, to put it mildly. It could take some serious super-sopper action to get the game underway on time.

Stats and trivia

• Ireland have played England only twice in official ODIs, including their maiden senior fixture, at Stormont in June 2006. On that occasion, England were indebted to a century from Marcus Trescothick, who carried them to a comfortable but far from convincing 38-run win.
• Their second meeting came in the 2007 World Cup in Guyana, and again it was tighter than perhaps England anticipated, although Paul Collingwood did his best to assuage any fears. He top-scored with 90 from 82 balls in a 48-run win.

Match facts
Thursday August 27, 2009
Start time 10.45 local, 09.45GMT

Head 2 Head