IRELAND resume their World Cricket League campaign today in Malahide with a spring in their step.

The narrow T20 defeat to India last month saw several positive signs, not least the emergence of Harry Tector as a potential world star in the format. The Dublin youngster flayed the IPL stars to all corners of the ground in classy innings of 64 and 39,

He so impressed Indian captain Hardik Pandya that he presented him with his bat and said the 22-year-old YMCA batsman had the ability to play at the top level.

Pandya said: “He played some fantastic shots. I’ve given him a bat as well, so maybe he can score some more sixes and maybe get an IPL contract, and I wish him luck. Just look after him well, give him the right guidance. It’s not always about cricket; it’s about understanding your whole lifestyle and what there is at stake. If you can manage that, I’m sure he’s going to be around – not just in IPL, in all the leagues in the world.”

This week Tector returns to Ireland’s best format after a prolific run. In his last ten ODIs he has made seven fifties, his average inching ahead of Ed Joyce as Ireland’s all-time leading ODI batsman.

He crowned that recent purple patch with a trio of half-centuries in Jamaica in January as Ireland recorded their historic first series win against one of the game’s superpowers.

Skipper Andrew Balbirnie has no doubts, saying “Harry’s been really impressive the last 6-12 months. He sets really high standards so he’s only going to get better.”

High standards are also being set by the Malahide groundsman, Philip Frost, who arguably deserved the man of the series award after producing a pair of belters for the India series. The current balmy spell should see more high-scoring matches.

But Ireland face a tough test this week, following a series against the No.1 T20 side in the world with one against the No.1 ODI side who lost the 2019 World Cup final to England by a whisker.

Ireland hope to have Heinrich Malan back in harness after he spent part of the week isolating due to Covid-19. “He’s just around the corner so he’s been in contact with us a lot,” Andrew Balbirnie, “the training’s gone as well as it could have.”

The captain is happy that his young squad are coming into the series on a high, saying “We always knew we could compete with the best but India are a different beast and to run them so close will give us a bit of confidence.

“This is a format that I love, and the self-belief of everyone in this group is something I haven’t experienced that often in this team.”