Porterfield confident Ireland batting will start to fire again

CRICKET WEEKEND PREVIEW: DESPITE LOSING five of their six warm-up games ahead of the World Twenty20 tournament, Ireland skipper William Porterfield is confident his side is coming to the boil nicely ahead of Monday's opening Group A fixture against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge.

The squad moved to their Nottingham base after Thursday’s final warm-up game against South Africa in Southgate, although Porterfield remained in London to take part in yesterday’s opening ceremony at Lord’s.

“Our preparations have gone well, and it’s now a case of fine-tuning certain aspects of our game over the next three days,” said Porterfield.

“It’ll be about reinforcing the lads’ confidence that we have the ability to post a match-winning total in this form of the game. I think we’ve picked up our momentum nicely, and that’s encouraging ahead of next week. We’ve bowled and fielded pretty well, and it’s just a case of getting the batting to fire again.”

Ireland’s problem has been the fact that too may players have failed to push on after making good starts with the bat, with Porterfield pointing to Niall O’Brien’s knock of 62 against the South Africans as the template for others to follow.

“I think Nobby showed that we can score runs at this level. I thought it was a great knock and a perfect example of how to bat in this form of the game. We’ve got to have the belief and confidence to play positively and not be in awe of any of our opponents,” added Porterfield.

The captain also highlighted the performance of Regan West with the ball; the left-arm spinner gave away just 20 runs off his four overs.

“I thought he bowled superbly both against South Africa and also at Lord’s in the Netherlands game. He’s hit his straps from the very first over, which has often been his problem in the past, when he has taken an over or two to settle into his stride. He’s been a great addition to our team, and adds even more variety.”

Meanwhile, today’s final of the Dublin Grass Machinery League will have a Caribbean feel to it as Railway Union and Leinster face off in Malahide (noon).

Both sides have employed the services of West Indian professionals this summer, with Leinster’s Carlos Brathwaite playing a key role in getting the Rathmines side to the decider as his 63 runs and five wickets helped them past Pembroke in the semi-finals.

Railway’s Magnum Nanan has also put in some fine performances with the ball since his arrival from Trinidad and is likely again to play a key role, as the Sandymount side are without their Ireland stars Trent Johnston and Kevin O’Brien.

Leinster have lost JP O’Dwyer to injury, but have named former Ireland captain Jason Molins at the top of the order, where his partnership with the in-form Mark Jones could be decisive to their side’s chances.

LEINSTER: A Scholtz (capt), C Brathwaite, C Byrnes, G Dockrell, M Jones, W Lennon, C Mallon, H McDonnell, J Molins, R Miley, I O'Herlihy (wkts).

RAILWAY UNION: K Carroll (capt), S Farthing (wkts), T Fisher, D Kapoor, H Mays, C Mullen, M Nanun, C Rendell, M Tariq, T Townend, S Ullah.

FIXTURES

SATURDAY: Dublin Grass Machinery League Final: Leinster v Railway Union, Malahide, 12.0.

SUNDAY: Leinster Senior League (1.0) — Section A: Clontarf v The Hills, Castle Avenue. Section B: Old Belvedere v YMCA.