Simmons Credits Batting Strength Ireland Scrape Home With 4 Balls to Spare in Brisbane Thriller

Ireland's Coach Phil Simmons was a relieved man following Ireland's thrilling 2 wicket victory of a gallant UAE team in Brisbane.

Having won the toss and put the UAE in, Ireland were in total control with their opponents 131 for 5 after 35 overs.

However Irish bowling frailties in the final fifteen overs surfaced again and they shipped plenty of runs.

The UAE finished up with 278 for 9, a more than useful total.

Simmons was happy with the way his middle to late order batsmen coped with the pressure situation as Ireland crept home to a two wicket victory with four balls to spare.

Ireland now two from two move on to Canberra for a huge encounter with one of the Tournament favourites South Africa.

But Simmons agreed that Ireland will have to be better.

Barry Chambers: Phil, not good for the nerves, but we've been here before. We certainly don't make it easy for ourselves, do we?

Phil Simmons: No, we don't seem to want to make it easy. 131 for 5 in 35 overs, you'd think it was going to be an easy day.

But they fought hard, and they played well. I think they showed a lot more fight than we thought at that stage. And we let them get back into the game.

But credit to all the Batsmen and especially Gary, Kev, Nobby, the Captain and then Dock are the end, you know we pulled through. And that's the fight we have. That's where we show we're going to win.

Barry Chambers: I suppose the value of experience, the West Indies win was more about the top four, this time it was sort of the middle and later order came good?

Phil Simmons: Well that shows the depth of batting, because even Max who was to come, can still bat, and can still put the ball away for us. So we could afford to keep going, especially after Kev was out. So it shows that we have a lot of depth in our line up.

Barry Chambers: And there might be a wee bit of concern, that's twice we've let teams get away in the last fifteen overs. Are you maybe thinking of changing tactics a wee bit, the slower bouncers don't seem to be working?

Phil Simmons: Ah no, we will sit down, not tomorrow but the next day and talk about it, and see where we go from here. See what is best for our type of bowers. And make sure that that's what comes to our game against South Africa.

So we have to get better, we know that, there's no question about it. We've been terrible in the last 15, so we have to get better. So that's all we can do, look at it, and make sure that we improve.

Barry Chambers: Two wins out of two, you must be happy with that?

Phil Simmons: Yeah, at the start of the tournament, you would be happy with two out of two going into the game against South Africa. So that's what we are, and we leave her tomorrow and go to Canberra in good spirits.