Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

DESPITE THEIR status, below-par domestic leagues, amateur players and limited opportunities to play the top teams, the ICC associate member countries at the 2007 Cricket World Cup are flushed with confidence and aiming to do well.

At consecutive press conferences at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay yesterday, the captains of Ireland, The Netherlands and Kenya all expressed hopes of making it into the Super Eight stage at the expense of some of the more seasoned teams.

"I though we did pretty well in our warm-up games," said Trent Johnson, Ireland's captain. "We know it will not be easy to advance from our group which has the West Indies and Pakistan, but we are hopeful and confident."

The Netherlands, now a regular face at the ICC World Cup, are one of the teams whose domestic structure is not encouraging. The sport, which falls behind football and hockey in prominence, is not featured in their school system or on television.

high expectations

"We are here with high expectations of doing well despite the odds," said skipper Luuk van Troost, a schoolteacher by profession. "Our first objective is to beat Scotland and then to see what happens in the other games."

In their warm-up games at the Trelawny stadium earlier this week, The Netherlands restricted India to 300 off 50 overs in an encouraging, but losing effort and were again looking good before losing to Kenya in their second game.

Kenya, who created a surprise in reaching the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, are again full of confidence. They topped the recent World Cup elimination tournament for ICC associate countries in the United Arab Emirates and skipper Steve Tikolo has lofty expectations.

"I would be very disappointed if we did not make it to at least the second round," said Tikolo, whose team lost to the West Indies in their first warm-up game before beating The Netherlands.

"Kenya's cricket is on the move under coach Roger Harper and we know we have the ability to do well," he said.

After their success at the last tournament, Tikolo said he was disappointed the team did not get more opportunities to play against the Test nations, which he considers a crucial step in becoming a stronger and better team.

In endorsing the presence of the minnows at the World Cup, West Indies captain Brian Lara, who spoke at the same press conference, said their presence in the tournament should not just be for show but also be an integral part of their development.