“Underprepared' Ireland will need things to go their way in Malahide Showdown

Irish cricket has been desperately unfortunate this summer. In 6 matches scheduled to have been played up till now (3 ODIs and 3 T20s vs WI), three were washed out, two were crushing losses, and just one was a convincing victory. Six White ball games (not including the forthcoming week) across a summer, is just not good enough.

Stirling shows frustration with the lack of cricket

That sentiment was evidently shared by the Irish captain, Paul Stirling, when he spoke at his pre-match press conference at the ground in Malahide this afternoon. Having come straight from his training session, spirits were high as the cheerful Stirling was refreshingly frank with the press sat before him. “We’ve probably been underprepared, I would say, that would be the honest answer”, Stirling shrugged off casually.

Going into further detail, the captain laid out his side’s preparation heading into the series, after four months apart: “We got a little bit of work done at the HPC (High Performance Centre), not much done on Sunday, and a good session today, and that’s about all we’ve had”. It’s safe to say, this Irish side is not exactly fresh. Stirling was not afraid to say that his team will “ need things to go our way a little bit”, ahead of this week.

Speaking on their lack of cricket this summer, the captain was firm in saying, “We’re obviously disappointed. We can’t hide that fact… Ultimately, we’re going to be judged on our performances on the pitch, and do not have consistent cricket, which allows you to bring out the best of yourselves throughout a summer, it is tough”.

Irish heroics last time out + squad news

Despite his recent concerns, Stirling’s smile resurfaced when steered towards the topic of his side’s last time out against England in an IT20. “A special day, no doubt about that… Beating England was massive for us”. A famous 5-run win at the MCG, during the 2022 World Cup group stages, gives Ireland a glimpse of momentum heading into tomorrow’s series opener at Malahide, but the absences of four key players in that triumph will no doubt hurt them.

Andy Balbirnie has stepped down from his T20 involvement, and bowlers Mark Adair, Josh Little, and Fionn Hand are all still in the process of recovery.

Ireland squad: Paul Stirling ©, Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Barry McCarthy, Jordan Neill, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young

Amongst that squad, Jacob Bethell has identified his opposing skipper, Stirling, and fellow batsman Harry Tector, as the two main threats for England this week. You can follow them all live with us here on YouTube

Watch out for Ben Calitz

But the captain was keen to heap praise on the uncapped Ben Calitz. The 23-year-old Canadian, who moved to Ireland in 2022, is an explosive left-handed batsman, who is a cause of great excitement for Irish fans, as well as the captain himself. Ben is a “Really exciting cricketer… the striking thing about him is how powerfully he hits the ball. He’s hitting sixes that are sixes in any ground, in any conditions. That was what sort of opened our eyes, certainly the head coach and myself, the way he was playing spin, and how far he could hit the ball”.

Calitz also acts as a welcome disruptor for the right-handed top order: “Being a left-hander, we’ve sort of been shouting out for that for a long, long time in this Irish cricket team where we’ve been stacked with the right-handers in the past and teams come up either with a leg spinner and left-arm spinner or two left-arm spinners and it’s tough through the middle”. It is likely that the left-hander will make his debut tomorrow, shifting the line and rhythm of the likes of Adil Rashid, Liam Dawson, and or Rehand Ahmed.

All set for the series opener

Taking a different tack to Jacob Bethell, Stirling was primed with an answer as to how Ireland would go about their cricket this week: “Anytime we’ve done well on our own shores is when we catch a team off guard fractionally, either with the pace of the wicket or just the length that we’re bowling or what balls to hit. That’s where we need to be. We need to be right at our best first ball.”

With the weather set fair for tomorrow, Ireland will indeed need to fire from ball one, if they are to challenge this titanic England side.

Tune in to Guerilla Cricket, from 1.20 pm , to find out how they fare.