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Guyana: Ireland coach and Phil Simmons wants his side to put behind their opening match defeat to host West Indies and play their hearts out against England, whom they take on in a must-win match, at the Providence Stadium here Tuesday.
Ireland, who surprised everyone by reaching the super-eight stage last year, succumbed to a 70-run loss after restricting the West Indies to 138 Saturday and their faint hope is to beat England and sail through to the second stage from the three-way-tie and for that to happen England have to beat West Indies.
Having beaten Ireland, if West Indies win Monday, Ireland and England will be pitted in a winner-take-all fight-out in Georgetown Tuesday for a spot in the Super Eights along with the hosts.
"It would make things easier, a straight fight between us and England," Simmons, said of a West Indies victory.
"If England win then we have to beat England and score a certain number of runs to get the run rate up but the point is, if (West Indies) win we get a straight shoot-out on Tuesday, which is a better thing for cricket, for me and for the team," Simmons added.
Despite being disappointed by Ireland's poor performance in the opening match and having been bowled out for 68, Simmons said his team is still capable of defeating England.
"In Twenty20 everybody's beatable and as long as we play to the best of our ability and the big teams are even one per cent under par we have a chance of beating them," he said.
That was the disappointing thing against West Indies. We put ourselves in a position, we played well up until the 16th over and then it went astray.
All eyes will inevitably be on Eoin Morgan, especially after the gem of an innings he produced in defeat on Monday. After a disappointing showing for Bangalore in the IPL, he's resumed the graceful style of power-hitting that has transformed the fortunes of England's one-day middle-order since his coming of age in the Champions Trophy in 2009 in South Africa.
Since the advent of Graeme Swann, England's quest for a matchwinning spinner hasn't been as frantic as it tended to be in the not-so-distant past. But who's to say that the young left-armer against whom they'll be pitting their wits on Tuesday, George Dockrell, won't be sporting the three lions within the next decade? He entered the tournament with a burgeoning reputation, and enhanced it with 3 for 16 in four overs against West Indies.
Team news
England sprang a surprise in their opening match by opting for Ryan Sidebottom over their attack leader, James Anderson, and he would be the obvious candidate to make way if England did feel the need to tinker with their line-up.
Squad from Paul Collingwood (C), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy, Craig Kieswetter (WK)
Ireland have batting issues to resolve after their capitulation against West Indies, although their best hope is to bank on their experienced players rediscovering their A-game. It's not often that extras is the top scorer in an international innings.
Squad from William Porterfield (C), Andre Botha, Peter Connell, Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, Gary Kidd, John Mooney, Niall O'Brien (WK), Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Andrew White, Gary Wilson (WK), Kevin O'Brien
Pitch and conditions
The Providence pitch will doubtless play into the hands of the slow bowlers once again, although it's hard to describe the conditions as "sluggish" after the sort of the power-hitting that England and Gayle produced on Monday. Of greater concern will be the weather, especially for the team unfortunate enough to lose the toss.
Stats and trivia
Match facts
Tuesday May 04, 2010
Start time 13:30 local (17:30 GMT)
