Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan is relishing the “challenge” of taking up England as the perimeters put together for his or her first World Cup assembly in 11 years.
On that event, Ireland claimed what would possibly nonetheless be the most important win of their historical past as Kevin O’Brien clattered the quickest ODI World Cup century off simply 50 balls to down England by three wickets.
Paul Stirling and George Dockrell performed on that memorable evening and must be concerned on the MCG on Wednesday as Ireland attempt to rebound from their opening T20 World Cup Super 12s loss in opposition to Sri Lanka.
But Malan insisted there was no reminiscing about what occurred at Bangalore in 2011 within the present Irish dressing room, indicating they’re absolutely centered on this fixture.
“There’s obviously a lot of water that’s gone under the bridge between now and then,” Malan stated.
“There’s a nice rivalry between the two nations but it’s making sure that we understand the situation, the conditions, the opposition. We use that as a competitive advantage.
“We haven’t played them in white-ball cricket for a long period of time, so it’ll be a nice challenge.
“We’ve shown that we’ve got a couple of guys that have put their names in lights, and that’s the opportunity that we’re looking forward to. Hopefully we can come out firing.”
Ireland, who additionally beat England in an ODI in 2020 within the final encounter between the groups, reached the primary stage by overcoming Scotland and two-time champions the West Indies within the first spherical.
They acquired a knockback forward of their nine-wicket defeat in opposition to Sri Lanka on Sunday as Dockrell examined optimistic for Covid however whereas he is ready to play, the 30-year-old has to observe away from the remainder of the squad and journey individually to grounds on match and coaching days.
“He’s been following the protocols to make sure that he can still be ready to play and obviously has been playing, but just in an isolated environment,” Malan added.
“It’s probably just a normal day in international sport. When something changes the whole time, you’ve got to adapt and you’ve got to get on with it.
“In a perfect world, it wouldn’t happen, but it is what it is and we’ve adapted around it – we’ve made sure that we’ve put measures in place to adequately prepare.”
Source: www.impartial.co.uk