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With just over 24 hours to go until Ireland’s opening match in the ICC Cricket World Cup, Gary Wilson previews the match for www.cricketireland.ie.
The build up to any major tournament is watched very closely from the outside, but only those on the inside really know what is going on in the camp, and how well they feel preparation has gone, so we asked Gary what he felt about Ireland’s preparation.

“I think we’ve prepared as well as we possibly could, obviously the result against Scotland didn’t go our way and we didn’t play anywhere near how we could have or how we wanted to that day, but we bounced back pretty well against Bangladesh.

“We are hopefully peaking at the right time. I wouldn’t say we played particularly well against Bangladesh but we still managed to get a pretty convincing win so hopefully we’ll continue that upward curve.”

Wilson was particularly pleased with the way Ireland’s bowlers performed against Bangladesh, especially as there seems to have been extra focus on them during the build-up.

“Something that has come into question over the last two months or so is the inexperience in our bowling attack, but I thought the way John and Max in particular bowled after the first couple of overs was excellent.”

With Ireland’s preparation complete and the squad settling into Nelson ready for the opening match, attention was turned to the West Indies and how their preparation and warm-up matches, which included a very heavy defeat to England and narrow victory over Scotland, will impact on the game.

“It might be a wake-up call for them, I think we’ve just got to concentrate on what we’re doing.

“There’s a lot of chat about how West Indies cricket is in turmoil at the minute, but one thing that’s for sure is that any time a player pulls on a jersey and plays for his country he’s going to be doing the best he can.

“Whatever eleven the West Indies put on the pitch is going to be a pretty talented eleven, having said that, we’re going to be a talented eleven as well, and we know if we play well then we’re going to have a really good chance.”

During the 2011 World Cup Ireland also faced the West Indies during the group stages of the tournament in what proved to be a frustrating day for the Boys in Green, after a controversial umpiring decision and review seemingly turned the game in favour of the West Indies at a time Ireland seemed to be in control.

“On my part I was pleased to score some runs, obviously it was a bit of a strange way it ended.

“We were in control for long periods, we should have won the game really. We did really well to restrict them and the chase was going really well until that incident. It was a bit unfortunate, but that’s done now.”

With the game now just 24 hours away, there is little doubt about which batsman is heading into the match with the best form, after Andy Balbirnie finished unbeaten on 63 in the final warm-up game against Bangladesh.

“He has done it all winter, you would think he was the one with a hundred caps!

“He’s just a baby in terms of games played and he’s showing us older guys how to do it at the minute. With the exception of Ed no-one else has really kicked on, obviously Niall played well in a game in Dubai and the rest was subdued so hopefully we’ll get them [runs] at the right time as well.”

After arriving in Nelson the squad are putting the final touches to their preparation and getting used to their surroundings before the match, which starts at 10pm on Sunday night (GMT), but will be Monday morning for the squad out in New Zealand.

“It’s a beautiful setting and lovely scenery. Nelson seems like a quient little town of 60,000 or something.

“I think it’s going to be a sell-out, 6,500 here so hopefully they’ll all be backing green.”

If you don’t have tickets for the game you can follow all of the action on www.cricketireland.ie from 10pm on Sunday. Make sure you’re #BackingGreen.

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