Ford sure Ireland can hit old allies Sri Lanka for six
IRELAND’S head coach Graham Ford will come across plenty of familiar faces when his team continue their ICC men’s T20 World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in the UAE this afternoon at 3pm Irish time, a match which will be broadcast on Sky Sports Cricket.
The 60-year-old South African has twice been head coach of Sri Lanka, his last stint from 2016 to 2017, so he knows many of their talented players. But Ford is confident that Ireland can build on Monday’s crushing win over the Netherlands in their opening match, as they go into this challenging encounter with a fully-fit squad.
‘There is probably half the Sri Lankan squad that I know pretty well and I know their coach [Mickey Arthur] very well,’ Ford says. ‘We know they are going to be a very competitive and energetic unit — they have had successes in this format in previous years and previous T20 World Cups. So it will be a huge game for us.
‘They have a special group — and have some players that can do some unorthodox stuff, but our lads have a lot of information on them and, at the end of the day, it will be all about how we play on the day. We pitched up against Netherlands with a real positive energy, and if we bring that against Sri Lanka, we will give ourselves a chance.’
Sri Lanka, having won the T20 World Cup as recently as 2014 and runners-up in 2012, are the strongest side in the opening round of the tournament, but Ireland have put themselves in prime position to also qualify with their seven-wicket win over the Dutch and can finish the job in Friday’s final group game against Namibia, who Sri Lanka have already beaten.
They will be looking for bighitting batsman Paul Stirling and exciting all-rounder Curtis Campher to put the South Africans under pressure,
In the other qualifying group, Scotland made it two wins from two and took a big step towards the Super 12 stage yesterday as Richie Berrington and Josh Davey fired them to a 17-run win over Papua New Guinea.
Having upset Bangladesh in their opener, the Scots did not take their eye off the ball as they condemned the tournament debutants to an early exit.
Berrington was the star turn, striking 70 off 49 deliveries to push his side towards 165 for nine. Scotland should have scored more but lost six wickets in the last 11 balls of their innings, a collapse that included four batters dismissed in Kabua Morea’s final over.
There was still enough scoreboard pressure to overwhelm PNG, with Somerset’s Davey claiming a career-best four for 18 as they were out for 148.
Ireland v Sri Lanka, 3pm, Sky Sports