Ireland captain calls for clinical finishing
Tuesday, 6 March 2007Ireland captain Trent Johnston has admitted his side need to find the killer touch in the Caribbean after giving world number ones South Africa a scare.
Ireland, making their first appearance in the tournament finals, impressed many in reducing the Proteas to 91 for eight but they could not find the firepower to finish off their opponents, who recovered to 192 and then dismissed Ireland for 157.
Canada are next up for Ireland on Thursday and Johnston said they would go into that match boosted by their performance against South Africa.
'We lacked the killer instinct against South Africa but we went into the game seeking to be competitive and there is no doubt that we were,' he said.
'I think that everyone should be proud. We scared the number one ranked team in the world.'
Johnston praised the efforts of his bowlers for making the most of the conditions early on.
'The bowlers did very well. The pitch was a new-ball pitch and we made good use of it,' he added.
'When they lost six wickets, we needed to take control but we did not.'
The Ireland skipper said the players were looking to build some momentum heading into the tournament proper and the Canada match would help them do that.
'We have had a good start and hopefully we will be able to put other areas of our game together so we will be hitting the straps when we meet Zimbabwe in our opening game,' Johnston said.
'My major goal for my team is to be competitive and we have shown that we were in this first match.'
Johnston said that unlike his team's approach against South Africa, they would try to take it up a gear against the Canadians and go for the win.
'If we play up to the same level we did on Monday, I think Canada will find us very difficult to beat,' he added.
'We are still learning and so are the Canadians but we are going all out for a victory.'
