Irish boys Morgan and Rankin make the cut

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