T20 World Cup qualifiers: George Dockrell backs Ireland to bounce back from 2021 disappointment

Ireland slumped out of last year's World Cup in the group stage after defeats by Sri Lanka and Namibia

All-rounder George Dockrell says Ireland believe making relatively small changes can turn their T20 fortunes around.

They begin their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, needing a top-two finish in a four-team group before winning a semi-final in order to book their place in Australia.

Dockrell was part of the squad that failed to reach the Super 12s stage of last year's tournament, but did not feature in any of the three matches in Abu Dhabi.

"We were all bitterly disappointed with how the World Cup went," he said.

"It's nice that we can get back to it so soon, try and learn from those games and put in some performances to give ourselves a chance to get to the World Cup.

"As a group, we know T20 cricket is something we probably haven't had the success we would have liked over the last while."

Ireland face the UAE, Bahrain and Germany in Group A, with Nepal, Canada and the Philippines joining hosts Oman in Group B.

Having defeated the Netherlands in their last year's World Cup opener, Ireland were well beaten by Sri Lanka before suffering a shock defeat by Namibia - the lowest ranked side in the tournament - to crash out in the group stage.

"Simply put, we struggled with the bat outside the powerplay. We know that's an area where we've had some issues. It's the hardest period of the game, trying to score boundaries when the field is spread before that death," Dockrell reflected.

"There's a bit of a focus in executing that. It's a bit of a short turnaround, we're not really changing massive amounts in terms of the personnel or skillset but hopefully we'll be a little bit more mindful in working towards that.

Dockrell made 28 off 22 balls in Ireland's final warm-up win over Nepal on Monday

"It was fine lines. Disappointing to go out of the World Cup as we did but I think one or two balls here of there and it's our game and you don't have those discussions.

"It's [about] trying to get a little bit better in a couple of those areas and it can be very small changes that mean you win those games."

Ireland's inconsistency in international cricket's shortest format has continued since. In December they were stunned by the USA, whose 26-run victory saw them beat a Test-playing nation in any format for the first time.

In the past week they have won warm-up games against Oman and Nepal but fell to a 13-run loss against the UAE - their opponents on Friday who have had the better of recent encounters, winning a three-game series 2-1 last October.

"There were a couple of different areas where we were a little bit off in terms of the ball, and a couple of stages with the bat where we needed to try and see home that win," Dockrell said of last Sunday's defeat.

"We know there's things that we can build upon. he way we finished off that quadrangular series was fantastic and I think we'll take a lot from that.

"With all these competitions it doesn't matter what's happened last week, it's about 11 on 11 and playing the best cricket we can."