Ireland looking to play positive, exciting cricket at T20 World Cup
- Planet Sport writer
- 16 October 2022
Andrew Balbirnie admitted being at the T20 World Cup can be “daunting”, but the Ireland captain is confident his side can rise to the challenge.
Ireland start their campaign against Zimbabwe on Monday, while Scotland and the West Indies are also in what seems the tougher of the two groups in the preliminary first-round stage.
Twelve months ago, Ireland faltered against Namibia and failed to reach the Super 12s, but Balbirnie feels the likes of Harry Tector, Curtis Campher and Josh Little will be better for that experience.
"We know that these World Cups can be daunting, but I think the group have played enough cricket now against top opposition in different climates to embrace that challenge," Balbirnie said.
"Potentially the only thing that's going to hold us back this week is they don't get overawed with it.
"A lot of them were there last year at the World Cup as well, so they've been there and experienced that big ICC event."
Balbirnie revealed there has been an emphasis on performance over results recently.
They beat the West Indies in an ODI series in the Caribbean last winter while they pushed New Zealand all the way in two of their three 50-over matches this summer.
"I think last year we got caught up very much with making sure we got the result rather than having that focus on performance," Balbirnie added. "That shift in mindset has freed up a lot of our players.
"Certainly in a competition like this you need to get wins, but our message has been loud and clear: we want to go out and play pretty good cricket and excite people.
"We know that if we keep playing that sort of cricket, more often than not we'll get the right result."
