PLAYERS' REACTION:HOBBLING ON one good leg and fighting off a virus, Niall O'Brien showed yesterday that the injured cricketer can be every bit as dangerous as an ailing golfer.
He also showed just why he is one of Ireland’s gutsiest sportsmen as he blasted 40 off just 25 balls, including three sixes in one over off Mashrafe Mortaza, to help his side secure qualification for the Super Eights here yesterday with a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
O’Brien played down his personal role, with Team Ireland very much the flavour of another memorable day for the game in this country.
The other buzzword was belief, something that courses through this side and made a mockery of the local bookmakers, whose generous odds of 5 to 2 were snapped up by many of the travelling Blarney Army.
“Today, for us, it doesn’t seem like an upset. We were confident of winning and we believe we are a better side than Bangladesh – we have showed it again,” said O’Brien, recalling Ireland’s victory over the same opposition in the 2007 World Cup.
“We’ve got a belief in the squad that we’ve got a very talented bunch of players. We are here to win cricket matches and we got off to a great start today.”
O’Brien also played down his ankle injury, picked up when attempting an ambitious run-out during the tail-end of Bangladesh’s innings and which required him to employ the services of Jeremy Bray as a runner.
“It wasn’t quite batting on one leg but I was struggling, and once we got the runner out it was a case of chancing my arm a little bit. It was quite a short boundary there and Mortaza was swinging the ball back into me, so it was a calculated risk.”
He reserved some special praise for younger brother Kevin, who came into yesterday’s game on the back of some poor form and also suffering from the same virus.
He didn’t show the effects of either, with the 25-year-old helping Ireland home with the assistance of John Mooney, hitting the winning runs and also clubbing two sixes in a knock of 39 not out off just 17 balls.
“He came up to me yesterday and said, ‘I’m playing really badly, I’m playing really badly’. I said to him, ‘mate, it doesn’t matter how you’ve played before the tournament starts. Once you walk out for a competitive match, that’s when it counts’ and Kev has done brilliantly for us again today.
“He’s as big a hitter as any of these teams have – you look at Yuvraj (Singh of India), Kev hits it as far as them all.
“He’s a power tool to have towards the back end of the innings and he had great support today from John Mooney.”
Although qualification for the Super Eights is guaranteed, O’Brien admitted the team will be going gung-ho for victory tomorrow night, with the points from the Indian game carrying through to the next stage.
“It’s the world champions but we are going to give it our best shot on Wednesday. There will be nothing left on the pitch, I can guarantee you that.”
Nothing but belief.
The Schedule
IRELAND will open their Super Eights campaign against New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Thursday (1.30pm).
Theythen move to London, where they will face Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Sunday (1.30pm), with their final Super Eights game coming against either The Netherlands or Pakistan at The Oval on Monday (1.30pm).
IRELAND’S SUPER EIGHTS SCHEDULE: Thursday: Ireland v New Zealand, Trent Bridge, 1.30pm. Sunday: Ireland v Sri Lanka, Lord’s, 1.30pm. Monday, June 15th: Ireland v The Netherlands/Pakistan, The Oval.
The good news is that there were still 1,600 tickets remaining as of yesterday for Ireland against New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Thursday (1.30pm).
Further information and booking is available at www.icc-cricket.com, or ring +44 844 8472020.
