ICC World Twenty20 Preview: Ireland

IRELAND – Group A

Ireland will hope to repeat their fairytale 2007 World Cup performance in their first ever appearance in the ICC World T20. Their best chance to do so will be to defeat Bangladesh and qualify for the Super Eight stage as the second placed team in their group.

Watch Out For:

William Porterfield: Captain and opening batsman, Porterfield is one of the team’s best batsman. His county cricket experience will also help him to perform consistently. Ireland will look for good starts from him to ensure that they have something to fight with.

Niall O’Brien: He played a big hand in their 2007 World Cup campaign with some gritty knocks.

X-Factor: Jeremy Bray is originally a New South Wales cricketer who now plays for Ireland. He has two ODI centuries to his name and, along with Porterfield, will open the innings for Ireland.

Dark Horse: Alex Cusack made a dream one-day debut against South Africa in Belfast a couple of years ago with a 3-wicket haul and 36-runs with the bat to bag the man-of-the-match.

Team:

Captain: William Porterfield

Andre Botha, Jeremy Bray, Peter Connell, Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Regan West, Andrew White and Gray Wilson

Coach: Jimmy Adams