It was great to get back home to Belfast on Saturday. We have played just one tournament here before so we’re hoping that the Irish public come out and support us in our quest to make the World T20 finals.
Playing at home in a tournament is a new experience for most of the squad and even for the guys that played back in the 2008 edition it’s still a bit of a novelty.
If we were in say Dubai or Australia, we would be stuck in the hotel for a lot of the time and even at the ground we would be unlikely to have much support unless of course it was a World Cup.
We know that if we play our best game that we will be in India next year, we are confident that if we do that we will finish the competition in first place and knock once more on the door of the ICC. In their infinite wisdom they have scheduled some of our games for 10am starts on weekdays.
Hardly the best way to promote a big crowd. Surely a scenario where there are two games a day, one starting at 1pm and the other at 5 or even 5.30pm would be an ideal way to promote the game of cricket in Ireland, something that the ICC, don’t forget say they are committed to doing.
Our preparation in the last 4 days hasn’t quite been what we were looking for. we have managed to get in only 18 overs of cricket when we bowled Oman out for 91.
We are pretty lucky however that a lot of our players have been playing and performing in t20 cricket in England and there was also the series against Scotland where the home based guys got a run out and some good quality cricket in.
We must also recognise that we will know the conditions much better than any of the travelling sides and we can use that to our advantage. Most of the Asian sides will be used to slow, low, flat wickets, with little or no sideways movement.
Over here, I think we are going to see scores that are slightly lower. Maybe 150 will be a winning score on pitches that should offer early movement for the seam bowlers…Especially the ones that are starting at 10 in the morning.
That is where our local knowledge may be able to come in to affect. I think we might see teams bowled out for low scores early in the comp. Assessing the conditions early is going to be so important. There might be times where actually, 150 isn’t a winning score and we need to push on and be able to get 170 or higher.
As the tournament goes we are going to see spin play more of a part, wickets will become tired and begin to turn and i think we have two that complement each other very well indeed.
I would suggest that the weather may pose the biggest threat to this tournament being as successful as it possibly can be. There is no doubt that the Irish people will be doing their utmost make sure the tournament goes well, lets just hope mother nature gives it every chance too
Playing at home in a tournament is a new experience for most of the squad and even for the guys that played back in the 2008 edition it’s still a bit of a novelty.
If we were in say Dubai or Australia, we would be stuck in the hotel for a lot of the time and even at the ground we would be unlikely to have much support unless of course it was a World Cup.
We know that if we play our best game that we will be in India next year, we are confident that if we do that we will finish the competition in first place and knock once more on the door of the ICC. In their infinite wisdom they have scheduled some of our games for 10am starts on weekdays.
Hardly the best way to promote a big crowd. Surely a scenario where there are two games a day, one starting at 1pm and the other at 5 or even 5.30pm would be an ideal way to promote the game of cricket in Ireland, something that the ICC, don’t forget say they are committed to doing.
Our preparation in the last 4 days hasn’t quite been what we were looking for. we have managed to get in only 18 overs of cricket when we bowled Oman out for 91.
We are pretty lucky however that a lot of our players have been playing and performing in t20 cricket in England and there was also the series against Scotland where the home based guys got a run out and some good quality cricket in.
We must also recognise that we will know the conditions much better than any of the travelling sides and we can use that to our advantage. Most of the Asian sides will be used to slow, low, flat wickets, with little or no sideways movement.
Over here, I think we are going to see scores that are slightly lower. Maybe 150 will be a winning score on pitches that should offer early movement for the seam bowlers…Especially the ones that are starting at 10 in the morning.
That is where our local knowledge may be able to come in to affect. I think we might see teams bowled out for low scores early in the comp. Assessing the conditions early is going to be so important. There might be times where actually, 150 isn’t a winning score and we need to push on and be able to get 170 or higher.
As the tournament goes we are going to see spin play more of a part, wickets will become tired and begin to turn and i think we have two that complement each other very well indeed.
I would suggest that the weather may pose the biggest threat to this tournament being as successful as it possibly can be. There is no doubt that the Irish people will be doing their utmost make sure the tournament goes well, lets just hope mother nature gives it every chance too