McCallan demands Irish improvement

Ireland vice-captain Kyle McCallan has urged his team to put aside their poor start to the Friends Provident Trophy and retain the Intercontinental Cup for former coach Adrian Birrell.

The South African left his post after guiding the Irish to a tie against Zimbabwe and victories over Pakistan and Bangladesh at the World Cup.

It had not looked so rosy for Ireland after they could only finish fifth in the six-team ICC World Cricket League in Nairobi earlier this year, and things have dipped again since returning from the Caribbean.

Ireland, now led by former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons, reached the Intercontinental Cup final by hammering United Arab Emirates by an innings and 170 runs in Abu Dhabi in February.

McCallan, Ireland’s most capped player, is enjoying working under the former Leicestershire and West Indies all-rounder – for whom the final marks a return to his former stomping ground of Grace Road – and believes he is the right man to continue Birrell’s work.

The 31-year-old said: “We had a brilliant session (on Sunday) at the ground. Everybody is finding their feet, Phil’s different to Adrian. We have every confidence in him.

“He’s had a difficult start in the sense it was always going to be difficult following what had been achieved at the World Cup. There were always going to be peaks and troughs.

“We’re very much looking to put the slow start to the Friends Provident right this week.

“(Birrell) was obviously a key part of getting us to the final. It’d be a nice way to send him off. It was great working in the West Indies for him and certainly he’s been a magnificent boost for Irish cricket and we’re hoping to put another little notch on his belt for him.”

Not satisfied with achieving a world ranking of 10th in the one-day list, McCallan now wants his side to establish themselves at the top of the Associate ladder in the four-day game as well.

“We have now proven ourselves through our exploits at the World Cup,” he said.

“We had a poor World Cricket League in Kenya, a number of factors came into that – mostly being lack of availability in terms of illness and sickness the boys suffered when we were out there.

“(But) we think what we achieved at the World Cup has put us right at the very top of one-day cricket in terms of Associate nations as our world ranking now indicates.

“If we could be the top-ranked Associate in both forms of the game it’d obviously be a great boost for Irish cricket.”

Since returning from the World Cup last month Ireland have not been at their best against English county sides, but McCallan does not think there will be a lack of motivation this week.

He said: “We’ve struggled in the Friends Provident since we got back, I think there have been a number of reasons for that. We’ve come down a wee bit from an enormous high and the boys have been struggling to lift themselves, and also there’s the fatigue factor.

“But this is a different format of the game, a four-day game of cricket as opposed to one-day stuff and as the holders we’re desperately keen to retain the title.”

Ireland will have to do so, however, without wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien and opening bowler Boyd Rankin, who are unavailable due to county commitments with Northamptonshire and Derbyshire respectively.

Gary Wilson and Thinus Fourie deputise, and McCallan is confident the new boys will fit seamlessly into the side.

“The great thing is that the boys who are coming in are new to the scene and very enthusiastic,” he said.

“We know what we’re going to get from them. It’s very difficult for us in the sense we don’t have our full-strength side to pick from so we’re a little bit handicapped.”

All-rounder Andre Botha is also absent due to a finger injury, but McCallan remains upbeat.

He added: “We believe the team that takes the field (on Tuesday) at Grace Road will be a team that’s good enough to retain the trophy.”