Ireland captain Balbirnie praises 'powerhouse' Stirling ahead of ODI series against Zimbabwe
- Published
Balbirnie says Ireland have not always been "blessed" with players like Stirling
Captain Andrew Balbirnie says Ireland are benefitting from the maturity in "powerhouse" Paul Stirling's game before the ODI series against Zimbabwe.
Stirling comes into the Belfast triple-header on the back of a stellar showing in the T20 series victory over Zimbabwe, in which he moved past England's Eoin Morgan into sixth place in the all-time T20 run standings.
"I think having someone in the team that can on his day take down any attack in the world is something unique," Balbirnie said of Stirling.
"As Irish cricketers, we've not always been blessed with that down the years, but I think the most impressive thing about him is that since he's become a senior player in the team he's probably scored the bulk of his runs and has been more consistent.
"I think in his early career, he got some amazing scores but maybe not as consistently as he'd like, but now we're starting to see that."
Belfast man Stirling enjoyed an exceptional run of summer form, starring in South Brave's triumph in the inaugural men's Hundred with a 61 from 36 balls before producing an unbeaten 115 to help Ireland move 2-1 up in the T20 series against Zimbabwe at Bready.
That moved the batsman from ninth to seventh in the all-time international T20 run standings as he leapfrogged Australia's David Warner and Shoaib Malik to bring his tally to 2,343, before surpassing Morgan with 39 to improve his haul to 2,635 as the Irish gained an unassailable 3-1 lead against Zimbabwe.
"He only turned 31 last week and we're starting to see that maturity in his game," added Balbirnie.
"He's a perfectionist at the end of the day and he wants to hit every ball out of the middle, which naturally doesn't happen.
"It happens more times for him than it would for me. But yeah, he is someone that can genuinely take down any bowler in the world. To have that in your team, it keeps the fielders on their heels as much as other batters would keep them on their toes.
"He's clearly a powerhouse in this team and I keep praising him every time I talk about him."
Stirling starred in Southern Brave's triumph in the inaugural men's Hundred
South Africa series did Ireland 'the world of good'
The matches at Stormont on Wednesday, Friday and Monday will be part of the World Cup Super League series, which essentially act as World Cup qualifiers.
The Super League features 13 teams, each of whom play an ODI series against eight opponents, with four home and four away.
World Cup hosts India and the top seven sides will qualify for the 2023 tournament, while the remaining five teams will vie for two places in a qualifying event.
And while Ireland suffered a five-run defeat by Zimbabwe in their final T20 at Bready on Saturday, Balbirnie insists the squad are in a "pretty good place" ahead of Wednesday's Stormont opener.
"I think that South Africa series (in which the Irish beat South Africa for the first time in any format with a 43-run win at Malahide) did us the world of good, even that half game we played on the first day," he said.
"The second game was obviously brilliant and the third game, the fight we showed, for Simi Singh to come in and get 100, those things puff the chest out a bit more for this team.
"I think that's what we're trying to do, we're trying to create a team that has confidence in what they do, whether it's with the bat or the ball, this series is big, but they're all big, I say it every time.
"They carry a lot of weight, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We're doing some pretty good things, we just need to do them more regularly and consistently."
Ireland's ODI squad
Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy, Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, William Porterfield, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.
World Cup Super League series
8 September: Ireland v Zimbabwe - 1st ODI (Stormont,10:30 BST)
10 September: Ireland v Zimbabwe - 2nd ODI (Stormont, 10:30 BST)
13 September: Ireland v Zimbabwe - 3rd ODI (Stormont, 10:30 BST)