The Irish team is on a high now as they recently defeated Worcestershire comprehensively and will be looking forward to their training camp and practice matches prior to meeting Bangladesh in their first T20 World Cup fixture. Ireland fancy their chances not only because they are currently playing good cricket but also because they are to be playing the T20 World Cup in England where the conditions are familiar as home.

Coach Phil Simmons declared his optimism when he said, "The win against Worcestershire was exactly what we needed in our last competitive game before the Twenty20. It was also achieved without our top county players, which says a lot for the depth of the squad. We will, of course, have everyone available and I'll be very disappointed if we don't make our mark.”

The Irish are aware that their first fixture being against Bangladesh would be the best bet in terms of a possible winning start to their campaign in the T20 World Cup. "Obviously our best chance lies in the game against Bangladesh but the beauty of Twenty20 cricket is its unpredictability. We will be going into the warm up games and the tournament in a confident mood," said Simmons who is confident of the team being part of the competition rather than just another team to swell the number of teams in the competitions.

The team hopes to repeat their good performances in the West Indies at the last World Cup this time in England hoping to make a good showing in international cricket. "It'll be a wonderful experience playing in front of sellout crowds, and I'm sure there will be plenty of Irish supporters adding to what I'm sure will be an incredible atmosphere. I know just how much all the guys are looking forward to it, and if we play to our capabilities, we have a genuine chance of progression. We're well prepared and have already played a lot of cricket this year. The conditions in England will be more familiar to our players than our opposition, so that's obviously a big advantage to us," said Kyle McCallan, the vice-captain and one of the most experienced players of the Ireland team.

It is an upbeat and hopeful Irish team that will face New Zealand in a Twenty20 game at Derby on May 27 before moving on to a training camp at Wormsley , where they will face a PCA Masters XI and West Indies in practice games. They will then face Netherlands and West Indies again in warm-up games at Lord's and The Oval.

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: