UTRECHT, Netherlands – After yesterday's dramatic one-run defeat against the Netherlands, Ireland Men’s skipper Andrew Balbirnie had his men back in the nets today to refine their tactics and approach for the second game of the series tomorrow.

The Irish team will be keen to atone for the defeat, particularly as they had many phases of the game in which they were seemingly in control, and felt the game was definitely one that got away.

Speaking from the team hotel, Balbirnie in a press release by Cricket Ireland said: “It was slightly disappointing that they got to 195, considering we had them at 53-5 – but at the halfway mark we were confident of being able to chase that down. We knew it would be a tricky wicket, but we just didn’t apply ourselves as we should have. Paul [Stirling] played another brilliant knock, but we just couldn’t get anyone to support him.”

“We’ve gone away and discussed our approach to batting on such a tricky wicket, probably the thing we most talked about was how to rotate strike a bit better, and avoiding clusters. We talked a lot about the need to put in some big partnerships.”

About his team's fitness and availability ahead of the second game: “Everyone is fit and ready to go. George [Dockrell] was a concern after an incident in yesterday’s game, but his wrist is fine and he is all good. We are all looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.”

With the new World Cup Super League underway, each match carries ten points – with pundits suggesting the likely threshold for qualifying in the 2023 Cricket World Cup will be around hundred points from the twenty four games to be played by each side. Hence, every match becomes crucial and both teams are keen to maximise their points from this series.