Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie appeared resigned to go the World Cup qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe next month at his final press conference ahead of today’s World Cup Super League game against Bangladesh in Chelmsford (10.45am).

Not only have Cricket Ireland been forced to give up home advantage because none of their international grounds would have been ready to host three one-day internationals so early in the season but with ICC so far refusing to impact South Africa run-rate following their refusal to play Australia in the competition, even if Ireland win all three games, they are likely to be behind the Proteas for the final automatic qualifying place.

“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” said Balbirnie, “We have to win the game tomorrow and then work on the second game. We are not looking at run rate, we are focused on our own performance and will play it as we see it and hopefully get favourable results. Our goal has always been to qualify for the World Cup and if we don’t do it this week we will try to do it in Zimbabwe.

“I don’t want to dwell on where we are playing, Cricket Ireland staff have tried to make us at home as possible. Obviously as an Irish cricketer you want to play big games in front of big crowds in Ireland as I feel we are ambassadors for the sport but it is what it is and we just have to get on with it this week.”

Ireland are boosted this week by the return from the Indian Premier League of their star bowler, Josh Little and although it will be his first 50-over action since the ODI series in Zimbabwe, Balbirnie is backing him to have a good week.

“Josh has become a world class operator and we’re grateful to have him back in the squad for these games,” added Balbirnie.  “He has done well at the IPL and heads back after these matches. It is T20 cricket, bowling only four overs at a time, but he is a fit guy and a good player for us.”

 Asked if the runs the batters scored in the last Test match in Sri Lanka can give them confidence going into a ODI series against a team who won all three games in Sylhet, less than two months ago, Balbirnie was again positive.

“Galle to Chelmsford may be two different ends of the spectrum but for me if you score runs in one format you can taken that confidence into the next match, even if a different format.”