Out In The Middle With Scott
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Well it’s fair to say Ireland threw the cat amongst the pigeons here at the World Cup.
WOW – what a performance.
For those of you who haven’t seen the match you have to and for those who have I’d say watch it again, Kevin O’Brien’s century was simply outstanding.
He smashed the fastest ever World Cup century off only 50 balls and led the Irish to a stunning win over England.
Here are the figures of his outstanding stand, he clobbered 13 fours and six sixes before being run out.
I bet he would have added plenty more if that hadn’t happened.
There were still 11 runs to be had from as many balls so they weren’t home and hosed by any means.
And if they’d lost his heroics would have counted for nothing other than a spot in the history books for his stunning knock.
So, why am I going on about the Irish?
Well, to be fair, it shows just how open this World Cup is.
Our performance against Australia wasn’t the best by any means and we were all very disappointed that we couldn’t notch up a win over our arch-rivals.
It was a tough day and with what’s been happening in Christchurch in the back of our minds it was even harder not to be able to put the game together and do something to put a smile on a few Kiwi faces back home.
To be honest, you can’t lose four for 10 through the heart of your order.
We’ve been working pretty hard on the training pitch but we have struggled to withstand the heat our more experienced opposition has placed on us when it counts.
But we’re not out of contention yet.
We certainly have to turn it up a gear though.
Our game against Zimbabwe was great from the point of view that we got a solid win under our belts but gee I wish I could actually get a chance to score some runs in this tournament.
Like our game against Kenya we followed up the win with another full on training session, the nets are getting a workout from us that’s for sure.
We have to get nasty now if we are to make it through to the knock-out stages.
The equation is simple, we have to pile on the runs and be ruthless when we bowl.
There’s been some talk of changes to the team in the media.
Obviously as a player you want to be out on the field and it’s not the best feeling to have to sit sideline and watch but as a team we are resolute in terms of our goals.
We want to win and so each player in the squad has to be ready to step up and take the field at any time and do their job to the best of their ability.
I can’t say it enough, we want to win and we believe we can win.
On a side note you will have seen I got a knock on the finger with the first ball I faced against Australia which made my finger go numb and I couldn’t grip the ball to bowl or throw properly.
The good news is OK and I’m ready for action.
And just finally to everyone in Christchurch, keep your chin up in these hard times. We’re following the news very closely over here and we all feel for you.