First and foremost we were very disappointed with how we played on Friday. It was a great atmosphere, a great event to go out and show what we can do. I thought we fielded pretty well, took our catches well. There was a good energy in the field. I don't think we bowled quite as well as we could have. They got away from us in the last 3 or 4 overs which can happen in Twenty20 but still at half-time we still thought we had a good chance of winning the game.
Then when we came out to bat there were a few soft dismissals. We lost the skipper second ball and we just never got any momentum in the innings. They bowled pretty well to be fair. We nicked a few balls, gave them a few wickets and we were up against it and we never really recovered. No batsman got stuck in. It was very disappointing - one of the worst performances I've been involved in with the Irish team.
There was a great atmosphere - 12 to 14 thousand people there cheering them on. But we just never got going which is a shame because I thought that total was very gettable on that wicket.
Morale wise we were obviously very down on Friday night. But we've moved on now. Hopefully the West Indies can beat England so it's then a play-off effectively when we play England on Tuesday. We have to beat England now to get through. They are the bare facts so we know exactly what we need to do.
I think the batting in Twenty20 cricket is something that we haven't really got to grips with over the last couple of years when we have played the game. There have been some good individual performances but we haven't really played batted well as a unit on too many occasions. So it is difficult. Twenty20 cricket is a hard game but we need to pick it up in that respect. We're bowling alright and we're fielding quite well so the batters need to pick up their game for us on Tuesday and win the game for us.
I feel quite good myself out there. If I can get the bit of luck you need and get to 15 or 20 hopefully I can go on and play a big innings.
We'll go into it determined to give it our best shot. It's going to be difficult we know but we're looking forward to it and no better game to win than against England to get through!
Talk later. Niall
Niall O'Brien in conversation with Liam Rooney
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