BANGALORE – Ireland captain William Porterfield has urged his side to be “cricket-smart” when they face England in a World Cup clash here Wednesday. The Irish, who knocked Pakistan out of the 2007 World Cup, were on course for another victory over a Test nation when they held Bangladesh to 205 runs in their opening match of this tournament.
But a batting collapse saw a side featuring several players with English county sides, of whom opener Porterfield is one, lose by 27 runs. “It’s no secret our batting let us down,” he said at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday. “There were a few soft dismissals and it’s just a matter of being tougher on ourselves. We can’t afford to give away a few wickets like that and it’s just a matter of being ‘cricket-smart’ when we are out there.
“Nothing dramatic has to change, we played well in the warm-up games — we’ve just got to be a bit more ruthless with the bat.” And he insisted there were would be no hangover from a morale-sapping loss. “I think it’s pretty much gone now, mentally. I think the day after the game and that night the lads were pretty gutted,” Porterfield, who has dyed his hair purple in support of a campaign for the Irish Cancer Society, said.
“The lads are in good spirits, the last few days’ training have been pretty good days. I’m pretty confident with where we are at.” Porterfield said it was possible he could give the new ball to teenager George Dockrell, who took two wickets for 23 runs against Bangladesh, in order to take advantage of Kevin Pietersen’s difficulties against left-arm spin.
“It’s definitely an option. Anything’s possible. He’s bowled in the Powerplay before and opened the bowling in the Twenty20. “He’s very new to the game, only came in last year for T20 and was kind of chucked in at the deep end in the West Indies. “He hadn’t had much experience before then, only one Under-19 World Cup under his belt. He’s taken everything in his stride, he’s a pretty level-headed young guy, just finished school,” added Porterfield of Dockrell, who has been signed by English county Somerset.
Porterfield said the history between the two countries meant a match with England was always a standout occasion. “For any Irish sports team, playing against an English team is always pretty special for us and especially to people back home. They always want to see us get one over on the English so I’m sure they’ll be plenty watching back home hoping for a positive result.” But he tried to put Wednesday’s match into context by saying: “We are going to have win at least three of the next five games (to qualify for the quarter-finals), so every game is a ‘must-win’ from here on in.”
