Orla Prendergast has nominated today’s game against Pakistan at the iconic Newlands ground in Cape Town as the one where Ireland get their T20 World Cup campaign off and running.
fter matching England in the early stages of Monday’s four-wicket defeat in Paarl, the Girls in Green believe a first victory is within their grasp against a Pakistan side they beat 2-1 in Lahore in November.
“We’ve taken a huge amount of confidence from that series win,” Prendergast said. “We know how Pakistan play; we know a lot of their players and how we need to bat and bowl against them. We are two very evenly matched sides.
“England was obviously a big game, and one we were hoping to play well in, but Pakistan is the game that we’re definitely targeting to come away with a win.”
Ireland have gone into their first World Cup since 2018 with a ‘no fear’ approach preached by coach Ed Joyce and while it can backfire, as it did when eight wickets fell for 25 runs against England, it’s a policy that is bringing rewards.
“A lot of our training has been geared towards taking the positive options as much as we can,” Prendergast added.
“We’ve put in a lot of work on our power and where we can really take our boundaries and hit sixes. It’s something that came off in patches in the England game and we can definitely build on that.”
Cara Murray claimed 3-15 against England, including the prize wicket of captain Heather Knight, and Pembroke all-rounder Prendergast is expecting the leg-spinner to play another key role against Pakistan.
“Cara was absolutely amazing,” she said. “She has been in great form coming into this tournament after doing a lot of work with Nathan Hauritz, our spin bowling coach. It’s just great to see the hard work paying off for her.”
Pakistan v Ireland,
Live, Sky Sports, 5.0pm