Irish to get in ‘winning mood’, says boss Birrell
The Irish take on their fellow minnows in Trinidad today in their final game before their tournament opener against Zimbabwe on March 15 in Jamaica.
The team have already been buoyed by a strong showing against top-ranked South Africa in their first warm-up game — which they only lost by 35 runs — and Birrell now has his sights on a win.
“This game is very important,” Birrell said ahead of the match at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground in St Augustine.
“We want to get into a winning mood. We competed favourably for 90 overs against South Africa and we would like to keep that momentum going.”
At one stage on Monday South Africa were reduced to 91 for eight by the Irish before rallying to 192.
In reply Ireland cruised to 135 for four but crashed to 157 all out.
Having the top-ranked team on the ropes is a performance Birrell feels is certain to stand the team in good stead.
“If nothing else, I think that it showed us that we can compete against the world’s best,” said Birrell, who stands down at the end of the tournament.
Meanwhile, both Ireland and Canada were unaffected this morning by a gas leak at their hotel.
The Hilton hotel needed to be evacuated – with members of the South Africa and Pakistan teams also staying there having to get out – but Ireland and Canada had already left for training.
Canada are also hoping to lift spirits ahead of their opening match against Kenya in St Lucia after losing their first warm-up by 77 runs to Pakistan.
Coach Andy Pick is expecting Ireland to provide tough opposition and sees the game as highly important.
Pick said: “It will be nice to face Kenya in our first game with a win behind our backs.
“We recognise how well Ireland played against South Africa but we are going out there to continue our good work which started months ago. Ireland’s performance against South Africa did not surprise us as we know of their ability.
“Ireland and many of the associate teams have been playing good cricket for quite some time and we expect that our clash will be very competitive.”
Pick is hoping that a strong showing in the World Cup can help the development of Canadian cricket.
He said: “Every game is important. The game against Ireland will be used as one in which we continue to build.
“The players have made giant strides since the last time the world saw them and when this World Cup is over, we are going to go back home and start preparing for the qualifiers in 2009.
“Finance is a problem in Canadian cricket and if we can perform well in the World Cup then we may be able to loosen someone’s wallet strings.”
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