ABU DHABI, UAE – Ireland Men’s white-ball captain, Paul Stirling spoke in a press conference ahead of the Men’s ODI series against South Africa starting on Wednesday.
On the feeling when they got over the line in the final T20I against South Africa…
“Yeah, look it’s a really good result for us. I think considering we have made at least five changes since the [last T20] world cup game, which was our best team at that time. To come out with a victory against South Africa is really special. But I think the most pleasing part of it was post-victory, the celebration scene wasn’t hugely jubilant – it wasn’t like we went over the top. We did things right, we got the processes right, and that’s what won us the game in the end. So I think there was that real sign of calmness towards the end where we did so well closing the game out. But also shaking hands it was a job well done rather than was a huge upset or along those lines. It was just onto the next game and hopefully we can take that confidence into this ODI series coming up. That’s the challenge for us.”
On trusting those processes…
“You know you can get lost in a bit of a thunderstorm if you don’t, you have to believe that what you’re doing in practice and the process is going to be successful by the time you come out in the middle. And I think that is what we achieved the other day. We spoke about going wide whole [bowling full and wide] and we saw how well South Africa did it for both games towards the back end. And if you don’t trust that process, you’ll come straight and get hit for six with the wind into the short boundary. And that’s why we were so pleased with how Humey went about his business and Sparky… Mark Adair towards the end. They backed what they were going to do and what we spoke about and it came good. And once that happens, you build that belief that this is working and this will work in the future and you go from there.”
Building a team in this next ODI World Cup cycle…
“It’s interesting because they have a number of players who are coming in as well. They’ve got I think three or four changes particularly in their batting order. So I don’t think there will be a reaction of sorts. I think both teams are in the same phase, where they’re trying to bring through either more inexperienced players or widen their playing pool the same as us. So I don’t think there’s any of that ‘we’re going to have a reaction to losing in this game the other day’. We’re just excited to start a new format. It is a new phase to have that goal at the end of it which is hopefully qualifying for the [ODI] world cup from an Irish point of view and performing at the world cup. And this is really the start of it. We’re just really excited. We’ve got a slightly different squad ourselves, and we want go in there and produce. Not talking about results, but going back to that process and making sure that we’re doing the right things and over a period of time we will hopefully be on track to get those wins – is important to do so.”
The importance of confidence and belief…
“Yeah I think it’s the belief. You know, confidence and belief – those are the two big things in cricket in general, and that’s why you can bring T20I victories into the ODI series. It’s the belief that it brings not just the players who performed well but also everyone on the pitch, everyone on the sideline, so I think that’s the real crux of it is when you come to these situations in the future you know you’ve done it. And to prove that with a slightly understrength team ourselves. I think that bodes really well for the future.”
Full details about the series here.