Balbirnie Backs His Talent to Guide Ireland Home in Morale Boosting World Cup Warm Up Victory Over Bangladesh

One of Ireland's rising talents Andrew Balbirnie showed today why he's so highly thought of by those who know a thing or two about this great game of Cricket.

Following an excellent performance in the field and with the ball Ireland were set a target of just 190 to beat Bangladesh.

When Balbirnie joined Ed Joyce in the middle Ireland were in need of a partnership and the duo duly obliged. Balbirnie was confidence personified as he stroked the ball around the park for a superb 63 not out.

Barry Chambers: Andrew a fantastic innings, 63 not out, your number. Win by four wickets, a great performance?

Andrew Balbirnie: Yeah it was, really was. I mean you know we kind of had a poor day, two days ago, and we really needed to put it right before the Tournament started, and we did that today. You know the guys in the first 50 overs set the tone with the ball. I though everyone bowled particularly well, and it was just a great 50 overs at the start, and we kind of just saw it home at the end there.

Barry Chambers: What was it like batting with someone like Ed Joyce there, was he talking to you all the way through that innings?

Andrew Balbirnie: Yes we kind of spoke at meetings about communication, you know when new batsmen come in, the the in batsman communicates with him. And with someone like Ed, he makes it so easy to come in and bat. He tells you exactly what's going on. He doesn't make you feel under pressure, he just makes everything look so easy. And it's just really good to get some time in the middle with a player like that.

Barry Chambers: You struck it well from ball 1. You got off with a couple of great boundaries there. What was your plan, were you just playing the ball, I mean facing Shakib Al Hasan, probably one of the best bowlers in the World, but you showed no sign of nerves?

Andrew Balbirnie: No I think I just had a game plan when I went in, and I wanted to score, I wanted to kind of, because I came in when we had maybe got a bit bogged down. So I just thought if I put bat to ball and kind of pushed it round the field, you know, that we could get back on top. And luckily it came off well and I kind of hit my gaps nicely early on, and it just kind of went from there.

Barry Chambers: And it's a great morale booster ahead of the West Indies, tournament proper now. It gives the side great confidence, they were pretty down after Tuesday?

Andrew Balbirnie: Yeah it does. And it just kind of shows you what sort of strengths we have as a squad, you know that was as bad a performance, I think, as we've put in since I've been involved. And to come back like that with such a good win in all facets of the game, it really gives us confidence going into Monday.