Ireland 'need to pride ourselves on our fight'

Ireland captain Paul Stirling praised his side's fighting qualities against India and Pakistan

Ireland captain Paul Stirling says his side can "pride themselves on their fight" as they exited the T20 World Cup after finishing bottom of Group A without a win.

Ireland lost heavily to India in their opening fixture, before suffering a shock defeat by Canada.

A washout of their third scheduled group match against the USA ended any hopes of making the Super 8s stage, with a reverse at the hands of Pakistan ensuring Ireland were eliminated with just a solitary point.

"It's been a tricky tournament," reflected Stirling after the loss to Pakistan.

"As a side when we show fight like we did against Pakistan and against India, when our backs are so much against the wall, and come out to show that we are always trying our hardest, we can’t do any less than that. If we do less than that we will get put away.

“I think we need to pride ourselves on that fight. That and our fielding are two things that we need to make sure we are 100% on. We are always continually trying to improve those."

'It has been challenging'

Stirling is reluctant to make excuses for his side's failure to progress to the next stage of the competition but adds that the adverse weather they experienced played a significant part.

"I'm careful on making excuses but it has been challenging - there's no doubt about that.

"Certainly the Florida leg it has pretty much rained since we got here and we were unable to train but again we are from Ireland and we're used to sometimes not training, so you get on with that and the challenges that international cricket brings."

Stirling believes the performance of the associate nations in their group, USA and Canada, was another factor.

"We know from our own experience of 10 to 15 years ago that every single game is a bit like a World Cup final when you are trying to come up the ranks.

"From around eighth to 20th in the world there is a not a lot in it. It’s maybe just a slight difference in quality. So we know that every game that you play, no game is an easy win."

Ireland have generally adopted an aggressive approach in T20 cricket and Stirling says finding the appropriate tactics for that form of the game can be a delicate balance.

“It [an aggressive approach] will definitely work better on flatter decks but it’s tricky because I think we did temper down for Canada and that also didn’t work, so it’s about finding that real tempo that does work on a tricky deck in T20 cricket.

“It’s easier said than done. I would much rather see us go down like we did against Pakistan, fighting and showing that we want to put pressure on the bowlers than maybe our first 12 or 14 overs against Canada where you go into your shell so much to try to get a score that it actually hinders you more than trying to hit fours and sixes. To get that balance right, that’s what the task is.”

'We could have folded but we didn't'

Ireland's Gareth Delany in action against Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi

Ireland finished their campaign with a battling performance against Pakistan, losing a low-scoring game by three wickets at Lauderhill.

Ireland made 106-9 off their 20 overs, with their opponents labouring to 111-7 to win with seven balls to spare.

"We probably rue the fact we didn’t get more runs but I think the way we came back into the game in both innings I was really pleased with," added Stirling.

"We could have folded really easily but we didn’t. We showed fight to get back into the game twice and maybe midway through that second innings we were touch-and-go favourites."

Stirling said it could have been "difficult" to find motivation for what was essentially a dead rubber against Pakistan, whose hopes of advancement to the last eight had also been extinguished.

"Those matches with absolutely nothing on them can be difficult but you do have to remind yourself of the importance - that you have people coming all the way from Ireland to support your team and watching on TV, that you really want to put on a good show. Ultimately that’s what gets you up for it.

“I would have loved to have won the toss and put Pakistan in on what was a juicy, tricky wicket. It showed that we were a little bit - not out of nick - but not quite game ready this morning, and that probably cost us in the end."