Isobel Joyce rues ‘sloppy’ Irish display

Ireland women’s captain Isobel Joyce feels her “sloppy” side underperformed in the 93-run defeat to tournament favourites New Zealand in their ICC World Twenty20 Group A opener in Mohali.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, New Zealand captain Suzie Bates hit 82 from 60 balls as the White Ferns racked up an imposing total of 177-3.

Ireland were well off the pace in their reply, labouring to 84-5 in their 20 overs.

The Girls in Green managed just six boundaries in their 20 overs, with only captain Joyce (28), Gaby Lewis (16*), and Clare Shillington (15) reaching double figures.

Edinburgh-born Leigh Kasperek, who played for Scotland against Ireland as a 15-year-old in 2007, was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers with 1-10 from her four overs.

Joyce believes her players lost their focus in the field after becoming disheartened following the match-winning second-wicket partnership of 104 from 12.3 overs between Bates and Sophie Devine (47 from 34 balls).

“We pride ourselves on our fielding but we were sloppy,” Joyce, 32, said afterwards.

“Our angles were wrong, and we weren’t in the right place at the right time to cut the ball off. There were too many misfields, especially towards the end of the innings when the heads had dropped.

“That’s not good enough when you come to a World Cup.” Joyce also feels her bowlers failed to stick to the basics, as Bates and Devine plundered runs in the middle overs, with Ireland eventually conceding 19 boundaries in the New Zealand innings.

“We bowled poorly to our fields. We didn’t hit the lines or length that we had planned to,” the Merrion all-rounder continued.

“You’re going to get hit for lots of runs against a good team when you do that.”

Ireland, who qualified for the tournament in India after winning the World Twenty20 Qualifier in Thailand last December, face Sri Lanka in Mohali in their second group match tomorrow, then take on South Africa in Chennai on Wednesday and holders Australia in Delhi next Saturday.

Joyce believes her side will continue to struggle in the tournament unless the batters find a way to score runs against superior bowling attacks.

“We need to be more inventive with the bat,” she said.

“New Zealand bowled very tightly and stuck to their plans and we need to find ways to counter-act that. They just put the ball on a dime and back it up with their fielding.”