Andy Balbirnie insisted there may be actual perception Ireland can attain the T20 World Cup semi-finals regardless of their hopes of consolidating on their win over England being dashed by rain.
Ireland began their Super 12s marketing campaign with a heavy defeat towards Sri Lanka however rebounded by producing a serious shock on Wednesday, toppling England in a dramatic rain-affected finale on the MCG.
They didn’t get to take to the sector 48 hours later, although, as a showdown towards Afghanistan on the identical venue was deserted with out a ball bowled attributable to persistent showers and a saturated outfield.
Balbirnie was pragmatic in regards to the washout, though the end result was significantly unlucky on Afghanistan, whose prior sport towards New Zealand was additionally worn out due to the inclement climate.
“It’s just part of the game,” Balbirnie mentioned. “You do come to Australia thinking you don’t need a hoodie or a rain jacket but it’s certainly been different since we arrived three or four weeks ago. It’s not a controllable so we don’t get too worked up about it.”
Ireland, the second lowest-ranked facet in T20s left within the competitors, now head to the hotter and sunnier climes of Brisbane to tackle hosts and defending champions Australia on the Gabba on Monday.
They end their group towards New Zealand in Adelaide subsequent Friday and certain must beat each Trans-Tasman sides and hope for outcomes elsewhere to go of their favour for a top-two end of their group.
Ireland have by no means crushed Australia or New Zealand in any format however Balbirnie identified that their upset five-run win below the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern technique over England has boosted their confidence.
“We certainly believe we can,” Balbirnie mentioned. “Our result on Wednesday backs that belief. We didn’t play our best cricket and we still managed to beat a team as good as England so that was positive.
“I wouldn’t want to be part of a group that didn’t think that (Ireland could reach the semis), that would certainly be a bad environment to be a part of.
“The world champions in their own backward is something pretty special. They’ll be expected to beat us, no doubt. That’s kind of a nice way to go into the game, you can play with a bit more freedom.
“We certainly have that belief in our group that we can beat them, we know we’ll have to be very good on the day. I know the group are pretty excited about that challenge.”
However, Balbirnie rejected the suggestion Ireland go into the Australia and New Zealand fixtures with nothing to lose.
“The pressure we have at this stage is if we lose badly, a lot of people will say we don’t deserve to be here and that’s a different kind of pressure,” Balbirnie added.
“We don’t like using the term free hit because we want to go out and play, even if it’s the first or second round, we want to go out and play, we want to play a certain way.
“We have as much to lose in this tournament. I can understand why people say that but, from our point of view, we feel on a level playing field when we take the field and we have to perform that way too.”
Source: www.impartial.co.uk