Proteas don't intimidate Ireland
Sunday, 4 March 2007Ireland captain Trent Johnston insists his side will not be intimidated by South Africa in their World Cup warm-up match tomorrow.
The Irish face a tough time in their first World Cup in the Caribbean having been pitched in a group alongside hosts West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.
And it would seem they have little chance of a gentle preparation either as they face the world's top-ranked side in Trinidad.
Nevertheless Johnston is relishing the challenge and believes his team can give the Proteas a good game.
The Australian-born 26-year-old paceman said: 'We are here to play good cricket and we will put up a fight.
'We are a group of amateur players but we are very keen to show that we are a talented bunch.
'Every one of our five top batsmen got centuries in the World League and they are capable.
'Our strength is our batting and we are going to try to put challenging scores together in order that our bowlers have good scores to bowl at.'
Ireland face a huge step up in class but coach Adrian Birrell feels his players have prepared as well they could have after two months of almost constant cricket.
Birrell said: 'Our preparation has been ideal and what we hope to achieve at most is being competitive.
'It is difficult to think that we can beat the number one team in the world but it will do us the world of good just to be competitive against these guys.
'We will decide on our final team just before play and we have already set ourselves certain milestones which if achieved we will be very happy, no matter what is the result.'
Ireland play a second warm-up fixture against Canada on Thursday before beginning their campaign against Zimbabwe in Jamaica on March 15.
