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Interview: Andrew Balbirnie on Oman series, watching Stuart Poynter bat and ‘feeling old’

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DEHRADUN – The Ireland Men’s cricket team arrived in India last night ahead of a nine-match series against Afghanistan starting on Thursday. Top-order batter Andrew Balbirnie sat down for an interview today and spoke about the Oman series, Stuart Poynter’s six and feeling old.
Andrew Balbirnie, 28, made his international debut in 2010 and has cemented himself in the top-order for Ireland. Last Sunday he scored his highest score in T20 Internationals – 83 runs from 50 balls – in a player of the match performance. Balbirnie, who underwent successful surgery in 2016 on a hip injury that threatened his career, has made 89 appearances for the national side.

Speaking about the recent T20 International tournament in Oman and the upcoming series, he said:

“It has been great to finally get going and playing outside – we’ve been doing a lot of indoor training at North County over the winter, which is great but does get frustrating after a while as the surface there is very different to the challenges we were to face in Oman and now here in India.”

“The conditions in Oman were excellent, the wickets and facilities particularly were first-class. It allowed me personally to just concentrate on my game – particularly moving well and doing the basics well. But one thing that really helped was the batting camp we had in Bangalore in December – it was very beneficial, not just for this tour but for any tour, as the volume of batting we did in tough conditions mentally gave us the confidence to produce during the big games in these warm countries.”

“Over the next few weeks we’ll be playing three different formats of the game and I think at this stage it will mainly be a mental adjustment to switch in and out of the formats. All formats are difficult in their own right, but for me the principles of batting mainly stay the same, like hitting the ball as straight and late as possible.”

“There’s a good feeling amongst the squad at present – Stirlo [Paul Stirling] has been excellent so far, leading from the front with the bat and demanding high standards in everything we do, and it has been great having the newer guys around. However, it’s my first trip that I’ve been representing ‘the oldies’ in the football matches, which is a big shock to the system.”


Video: Ireland Men’s team arrive in Dehradun

Asked about his player of the match performance in Sunday’s T20I against Netherlands, he said:

“My game plan going out to bat against the Netherlands, after losing Stirlo [Paul Stirling] early, was simple – give myself a couple of balls and then assess where my best scoring options were and go on from there.”

“It may sound obvious, but as a batting unit we found that the more time we had in the middle and acclimatising to conditions, the better we batted. However, we were disappointed with our batting in the middle overs against Scotland, and felt we underperformed, so to get a good run chase under our belts against the Netherlands was very satisfying.”

When asked about what he was thinking as Stuart Poynter faced that last ball yesterday, he said:

“Watching him face that last ball was nerve-wracking for all of us. I just sat there thinking: “Please hit this for 6 Stu, please hit this for 6”. There was as much relief as excitement when bat hit ball.”

The Ireland Men’s team is in action on Thursday in the first T20 International against Afghanistan. A livestream will be available, with details posted on Cricket Ireland social media channels when confirmed.

Cricket Ireland can further confirm that James Shannon will not be travelling to India for the T20 International series, and instead will remain in Ireland as part of his rehabilitation from injury to his shoulder. There will be no replacement sent.

Squads for Afghanistan series

Afghanistan series – T20 Squad
Paul Stirling (Captain), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Kevin O’Brien, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Harry Tector, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker

Afghanistan series – ODI Squad
William Porterfield (Captain), Andrew Balbirnie, James Cameron-Dow, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker

Afghanistan series – Test Squad
William Porterfield (Captain), Andrew Balbirnie, James Cameron-Dow, George Dockrell, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker

Tour Schedule

21 February: Afghanistan v Ireland – 1st T20I – start time of 6.30pm (local time) or 1pm (GMT)
23 February: Afghanistan v Ireland – 2nd T20I – start time of 6.30pm (local time) or 1pm (GMT)
24 February: Afghanistan v Ireland – 3rd T20I – start time of 6.30pm (local time) or 1pm (GMT)

28 February: Afghanistan v Ireland – 1st ODI – start time of 2.30pm (local time) or 9am (GMT)
2 March: Afghanistan v Ireland – 2nd ODI – start time of 2.30pm (local time) or 9am (GMT)
5 March: Afghanistan v Ireland – 3rd ODI – start time of 2.30pm (local time) or 9am (GMT)
8 March: Afghanistan v Ireland – 4th ODI – start time of 2.30pm (local time) or 9am (GMT)
10 March: Afghanistan v Ireland – 5th ODI – start time of 2.30pm (local time) or 9am (GMT)

15–19 March: Afghanistan v Ireland – Test Match – start time of 10am (local time) or 4.30am (GMT)

Andrew_Balbirnie_reaches_50_-_Netherlands_v_Ireland_-_photo_Ian_Jacobs.JPG
Andrew Balbirnie acknowledges his half-century against Netherlands
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