With 2 matches down for both teams, tomorrow’s match between Ireland and Namibia has been dubbed the ‘winner take all’ match. Tied at 2nd place, with the only difference coming in net run rate, whichever team wins will make it to the World Cup Super 12. Graham Ford, Ireland’s coach, has been in talks with people from the IPL, trying to understand the pitches a bit better.
Ford commented on the whole situation and their road to this match, “I’ve had a few good chats with some of the IPL coaches, but we’ll keep that to ourselves for now, win or lose, we are gaining and we are learning, but quite obviously we’re desperate to go through to the next phase of the tournament.”
“We had a long bus journey then caught the end of the game and they did hit the ball extremely well at the end,” Ford said. “We know that they’ve got some very dangerous players and David Wiese, who put on a show – we caught the end of that show. He’s played for South Africa in the T20 World Cup before and I’ve seen him in South Africa and on the county circuit. He can be absolutely devastating, which he was today. They’ve got some dangerous players. They’ve got some very hard-working cricketers. Quite a few of them have learnt quite a lot of their cricket in South Africa and they pushed us close in the last game of the qualifiers. We know that they’re going to be tough – if we’re slightly off our best, we will struggle.”