ENGLAND CAPTAIN JOS Buttler warned his strongly fancied side they risk getting “hurt” if they underestimate Ireland at the Twenty20 World Cup.
And Ireland coach Heinrich Malan insists they are “really excited” by the task ahead, with victory a must if they are to stay in the hunt for an unlikely semi-final berth.
“We haven’t played them in white ball cricket for a long period of time, so it’ll be a nice challenge,” he said.
“We know that they’ve got a couple of skill sets that’ll be challenging, but I also think way we’ve played over a period of time that we’ve shown that we’ve got a couple of guys that have put their names in lights.
“And that’s the opportunity that we’re looking forward to, and hopefully we can come out tomorrow night firing.”
England launched their title charge by beating Afghanistan by five wickets in Perth on Saturday, with their bowling and fielding outstanding.
Sam Curran was the star with an incredible 5-10 – the first England bowler to take five wickets in a T20I.
In contrast Ireland, who came through the preliminary round, were beaten by nine wickets by Sri Lanka in Hobart.
Despite the apparent gulf in class – England are ranked world number two and Ireland 12 – there will be no complacency with only the top two from the six-team group progressing to the semi-finals.
“We give them great respect, we expect a really tough game,” Buttler said ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“We’ll prepare well, we’ll try and turn up on the day and assess conditions, see what’s in front of us, try and use our talent as best we can on the day to put pressure on them, and try and win the game.”
