Johnston hails 'outstanding' Irish

Ireland captain Trent Johnston admitted he could not have asked for more from his players after their dramatic tie against Zimbabwe in the World Cup.

The Irish, on their debut in the tournament, posted 221 for nine after Jeremy Bray top-scored with 115 but Zimbabwe appeared to be cruising until a late collapse at Sabina Park in Jamaica.

Zimbabwe were well on course as they reached 203 for five in the 44th over but Ireland collected the last five wickets for 18 runs.

Australian-born Johnston said: “When you play cricket in this competition, and you play against the level of cricketers that we are playing against, you have got to take every opportunity.

“We let the game slip, but we came away with a tie in our first World Cup match ever, so I am proud of the guys.

“I could not have asked for anything better from the other 10 guys that went out onto the field. They were outstanding.”

Johnston added that the support of around 1,500 Irish spectators at the Kingston ground gave his side a real lift.

“They were like our 12th man, and at one stage out there I thought it was 20,000 supporters we had in the stands,” he said.

“We rode on the back of the support of our fans, they were fantastic. We know Irish people support sports a lot, and they are very passionate, so it was high on our agenda to try and win the game for those people.

“To have that support was phenomenal, and I am looking forward to the same thing on Saturday when we face Pakistan, and especially against West Indies, when I do not think there will be too many seats in the house.”

Johnston noted, however, there were some areas of his side’s performance which they will need to tighten up to test Pakistan on Saturday and the West Indies next Friday.

“Our bowling up front was not particularly great,” he admitted. “When we were batting, we lost a few wickets to silly shots, so there are things for us to work on.

“In this match, it seemed like we had lost the game, then won the game, then lost the game before we tied it, so to come away with one point from our first game in the World Cup is an outstanding effort.”

Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya blamed errors – both batting and fielding – for allowing Ireland to fight back from a virtually hopeless position.

Utseya said: “We kept losing wickets at the wrong time and that’s why we tied this game, but we have to thank Stuart Matsikenyeri for getting us this close to the target.

“This is a new experience for our side, but we will gain more and more every time we play. Hopefully, if we get into a situation like this again, we will win next time.

“I thought we gave away too many runs when they batted. We dropped some important catches which could have made a difference, and this is something we will have to work on.”

Stuart Matsikenyeri top-scored for Zimbabwe with an unbeaten 73 but he was unable to deliver the winning runs as the Irish held their nerve after nine had been needed off the last over. Vusi Sibanda had earlier looked to be steering Zimbabwe towards victory but was out hit wicket after treading on his stumps.