Ireland v Bangladesh: William Porterfield warns big teams in ICC World Cup 2011
The Ireland skipper, William Porterfield, has warned ICC World Cup 2011 favourites of complacency against his team as the side is gearing up to open its World Cup campaign against co-hosts, Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on 25 February.
The Irish captain agreed that the Tigers would enter the Mirpur venue as game favourites.
However, he did maintain his side should not be taken lightly.
"They are playing at home, so that is to be expected", said Porterfield when asked whether the Dhaka boys were favoured to seal Friday’s day-night World Cup encounter.
The Bangladesh captain, Shakiab Al http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990, had earlier opined that the tourists would struggle in the spin-friendly conditions. But Shakib’s Irish counterpart dismissed the threat saying that the team was ready to deal with any contingency.
"We know what to expect", said the 26-year-old. "Spin will obviously play a part in this World Cup and more so in Bangladesh, whose game plan is all about spin. But we feel we are ready”, he added.
The left-handed opening batsman of Ireland said that they have come to the Subcontinent at the back of a very good preparation at home as well as in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 (UAE), where the main focus was on playing spin, keeping in mind the turning tracks
of the Subcontinent.
The leading associate team had stunned fans in the previous edition of the quadrennial tournament by beating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the initial round and then crushing the Bengali Tigers in the Super Eights stage by 74 runs.
The minnows then defeated http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 in the 2009 World Twenty20 Championship in England by six wickets and must be boosted by two successive victories over co-hosts in high-profile events.
Porterfield, however, declined to read too much into 2007 World Cup performance, though he did add they want to put in a performance in the mega event that will make cricket fans take notice again.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 coach, Phil Simmons, feels the current Ireland squad is much stronger than the one that played in the 2007 edition.
Nine of the 15-man Ireland squad were part of the 2007 World Cup squad. The line-up would be strengthened by the presence of former England player, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ed-Joyce-c1417, who played 17 ODIs for England before returning to his birth place.
Tags: