Ireland cricket: Youthful side have plenty of reason for optimism says spinner Andy McBrine

McBrine's 5-29 in the first ODI took him past 50 one-day wickets

Ireland's Andy McBrine says his side remain in high spirits despite their recent 3-0 ODI series by Afghanistan.

With a number of young players coming through McBrine admitted Ireland are in transition but insists they will turn the results around.

"Every team goes through that bit of transition where they have to rebuild," said the Donemana native.

"The talent is there, it might take and extra 10 or 15 matches but we're going to have to trust in these young ones."

The spinner took a career best 5-29 in the first game, while batsman Paul Stirling became Ireland's all-time leading run scorer across all formats as he hit back-to-back centuries in Abu Dhabi.

However Ireland were unable to build batting partnerships as effectively as Afghanistan, who took all 30 World Cup Super League points on offer.

"Some days you go to bowl and maybe try to tie the batsman up but obviously that [first] day just happened to be my day on a good spinning wicket," McBrine said.

"It was nice to get the 5-fer but the result didn't go our way, so it took a bit of spoil off it.

"I thought I bowled as good in the last game as I did the day I got the five wickets, but obviously they were a bit smarter playing me and they didn't play as many shots.

"Afghanistan are a top side especially in sub-continent conditions, they've got probably two of the best spinners in the world so we knew it was going to be tough."

'We were hoping for a 2-1 win'

Among Ireland's young talents are wicket-keeper/batsman Lorcan Tucker and all-rounder Curtis Campher, who both impressed at points in the UAE.

Belfast man Stirling was however too often left to carry the load with the bat, and could not get his team over the line despite making it four hundreds in his past six ODIs.

"We knew the series was going to be tough, we were hoping to get out with a 2-1 win and on another day we could have," McBrine said.

"Paul played excellent the whole series. It would have taken one other batsman to come and get a 50 or 60 to get us over that line and that would have been the difference."

Ireland have secured just 10 world Cup Super League points as they attempt to secure an automatic place at the 2023 tournament in India.