Ireland coach Phil Simmons has asked his players to put defeat by West Indies behind them and play to their full potential against England in their final World Twenty20 group game on Tuesday.
Ireland await Paul Collingwood's England side, who open their Group C campaign tomorrow against the tournament hosts at the Guyana National Stadium, knowing an upset victory is essential for them to progress to the Super Eight phase and repeat their heroics in the tournament last year.
Simmons was left deeply disappointed by Ireland's opening match on Friday night as his old side beat the qualifiers by 70 runs.
Ireland had bowled well for 16 overs before Darren Sammy led a late rally to post a target of 139 and then the match went further downhill when Simmons saw his side bowled out for 68, the second lowest total in a Twenty20 international.
‘For me it's more disappointment than frustration because I know what the guys are capable of doing and if we do it and the big teams beat us then you're not too worried,’ Simmons told Press Association Sport.
‘But when they don't do it, it's the disappointing part. And last time was particularly disappointing with the batting and the way that we got out.
‘It's not like we haven't faced bowling like this before. We have done and we've done well and that was the disappointing part yesterday.
‘There's a lot of fighting (to be done) now. We've put ourselves in a not too good position but we're known for the fight so we'll make sure we'll try and do what's necessary in the next game.
‘We didn't do everything that was necessary in our first game and that was our downfall.’
Simmons said Ireland's batting problems, which saw the first four wickets go down after just 12 balls, stemmed from a misplaced sense or urgency on a slow Georgetown wicket.
‘Up front we want to score too quickly and we're losing wickets because we want to score too quickly in the first six.
‘This is different to England last year (at the 2009 World Twenty20) and Dubai this year in the qualifiers.
‘This is not a 160 wicket, this is a 130-140 wicket and so we have to make sure that we tighten up and don't lose wickets at the beginning.
‘You can still score 90 runs in the last 10 overs but when you've lost four wickets it's twice as difficult.’
The biggest positive for Ireland against West Indies was undoubtedly 17-year-old schoolboy and left-arm spinner George Dockrell, the youngest player in the tournament who took three for 16 runs in his four-over spell.
Called into the senior side after an impressive Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year, Dockrell cemented his place in the side during the ICC World Twenty20 qualifying tournament in Dubai in February and Simmons said: ‘He's been swimming very strong since he's been thrown in at the deep end.
‘George has been phenomenal. He's just come in straight from Under-19s and fitted in as well as anybody could.
‘I expected him to do well because I'd seen him in Under-19 qualifiers as a 16-year-old and he was someone who learned things quickly as the games went on.
‘He has an idea about what he's doing but it's a little bit of a surprise that he's taken to it so quickly, but he's that kind of player.
‘And the good thing is, the wicket wasn't turning (against West Indies) but he still got three for 16 so it shows that he can adjust and he's thinking about what he's doing.’
