da dobrowin： The sudden spurt of interest in cricket in Ireland will push the side to perform creditably against Pakistan
The Preview by Dileep Premachandran in Kingston17-Mar-2007
Inzamam-ul-Haq may bat higher up the order, owing to the batting failure against West Indies © AFP
Inzamam-ul-Haq leads Pakistan into a St Patrick’s Day showdown withIreland knowing that there’s no margin for error with a place in the SuperEights at stake. The 54-run loss to West Indies has pushed Pakistan backagainst the wall, and Inzamam and his side will need to use the adversecircumstances to inspire them in front of a large crowd that will mainlybe roaring on the underdog that the Jamaicans have taken to their heartsafter Ireland’s thrilling tie against Zimbabwe.Inzamam called Thursday’s game the “most interesting of the World Cup sofar”, adding that “it reminded the big teams that no team can be takenlightly”. Defeat in the tournament opener was a setback, and a few changesare in the offing. Inzamam said that they wouldn’t decide on an XI untilafter the team meeting on Friday evening, but suggested that either he orMohammad Yousuf could be batting higher up the order.”The batting order will probably change,” he said. “In the previous much,the top order was under pressure and it was the experienced middle orderof myself, Younis Khan and Yousuf that had to try their best tohandle it.”Ireland’s best hopes of an upset lie there, in winning the toss and usingthe moisture in the pitch to make rapid inroads. Trent Johnston, thecaptain, admitted as much, though he added that it would need a Herculeaneffort to get past one of the fancied teams in the competition. “We’llhave to bring our A game in all three departments to even come close, andthey’ll need to have a poor day,” he said. “It would be fantastic to stayon for a few more weeks after the 24th [of March].”After the tie against Zimbabwe, Johnston had said that his team weren’ttoo intimidated by Pakistan’s bowling line-up, even though it was clearlytheir stronger suit against West Indies. Apart from the final five oversthat went for 57, the bowling was disciplined and tidy, and Inzamamindicated that there would be no tinkering even though some would like tosee the out-of-form and out-of-luck Rana Naved-ul-Hasan replaced byMohammad Sami.Inzamam focussed instead on Umar Gul, who took the new ball in the openinggame in the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. “Gul is our strikebowler as of now,” said Inzamam. “The team depends on him forbreakthroughs. He has the potential to be a world-class bowler, but heneeds to play two years of good cricket.”He also rubbished talk of a rift within the team, saying that suchinnuendo was par for the course when it came to Pakistan cricket. “If suchtalk had not come up after a loss, it would have been better,” he saidbluntly. “In a way, it’s not a surprise and I’m used to this after playingfor 17 years.”
After the thrilling tie against Zimbabwe, it’s clear that Ireland will not be underestimated © AFP
Shahid Afridi made a few appearances for Ireland last year as a guest player and even thoughsuspension rules him out of this game, Inzamam said that his inputs hadbeen useful. “Ireland has some county players,” he said when asked toassess the opposition. “It was good to see them fight till the last ball.”The county player he was referring to was Eoin Morgan of Middlesex, and hesaid that his experience might come in handy against a side that would beexpected to easily outclass the Irish. “I’ve played against AzharMahmood,” Morgan said. “They have a lot of great players, but hopefullythey’ll have their second bad day of the tournament tomorrow.”Adrian Birrell, the coach, accepted that Thursday’s eye-catching resulthad taken away the element of surprise, though he was fairly certain thatPakistan wouldn’t have underestimated his team anyway. “Azhar playedagainst us when we beat Surrey and Afridi played for us in the C>rophy,” he said. “They won’t be taking us lightly, and their coach willensure that they come out hard.”While depending on their new-ball bowlers to spring a surprise, Irelandwill also need to put runs on the board themselves. Morgan is tipped asthe star of the future, but once again much will depend on the broadshoulders of Jeremy Bray, the opening bat who made a 137-ball 115 onThursday. “Jeremy’s 33 years young,” said Johnston with a smile. “He’s abit stiff and sore, but we had a light run and there’s a [swimming] poolsession later, so he’ll be fine.”Close to 8,000 tickets have already been sold for the game – only 2011came through the turnstiles for the Zimbabwe match – and Johnston wasexpecting a carnival atmosphere. “It’s something tolook forward to,” he said. “St. Patrick’s Day is a special one forIreland, and we have the opportunity to quality for the next round. Butwe’ve been emphasising that it’s just another game. We can’t put too muchpressure on ourselves.”The result against Zimbabwe was greeted with a six-column front-pagephotograph in the , but according to Birrell, the suddenspurt in interest wouldn’t increase the pressure on the side. “We’rethrilled that we’re getting publicity,” he said. “It’s been a long haul,and it makes us all the more determined.”For Birrell, the secret weapon could be the chats he’s had with his oldfriend, Mickey Arthur, the South African coach. “Mickey and I go back a long way,” said Birrell, who played his first-class cricket in South Africa. “Pakistan toured SouthAfrica recently, and I did pick his brain.”No matter what happens out on the field, most of the Irish will spendSaturday night with their families. Morgan, though, did admit that anothersuccessful outing might just result in “one or two more” Guinness beingdrunk. If they pull off the mother of all World Cup heists, they’ll mostlikely get free Guinness for life. Now, there’s a thought.