Cricket: Ireland set for Afghanistan test in Desert T20 Challenge

Dubai - The two cricketing giants of the second tier have clashed on many occasions

The Desert T20 Challenge cricket tournament will kick-start with a mouth-watering clash between two of the top Associate countries - Ireland and Afghanistan - at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on January 14.
The two cricketing giants of the second tier have clashed on many occasions, recently in the ODIs when Afghanistan toured Ireland last year with the series ending 2-2 after the first match was abandoned.
But now the focus has shifted to the much shorter version and Ireland captain William Porterfield is wary of his opponents but at the same time confessed that they know each others strengths and weaknesses.
Speaking on the sidelines of their practice session at The Sevens ground in Dubai on Monday, Porterfield said his boys are ready and raring to go.
"Our first stop is Afghanistan, they are a good team. They were in UAE before Christmas and played the hosts, but since we play each other frequently there's no real surprise thrown in there," said the 32-year-old left-hander who has a top score of 72 in T20Is.
"We got a big tour coming up in March. We go to India to play Afghanistan. It will probably be our first tour of that stature. We play three T20s and 5 ODIs against them, but for now our first goal in 2017 is to win this tournament.
"We have a week's preparation before the competition gets under way on Saturday, so the lads are looking forward to it.
"The squad of 14, they are all fit and raring to go," he added. "Majority of us come from indoors so we are getting used to outdoors and looking forward to Saturday."
Ireland and other Associate countries have always voiced their unhappiness at not getting to play enough international matches and Porterfield once again joined that chorus.
"We did play Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the summer. I got to know that Zimbabwe came out saying they would like to play Afghanistan. Scotland too have some fixtures. We too would like to play Zimbabwe and Bangladesh," added the skipper with the hope that ICC will open more doors to them.
Scotland captain Gordon Drummond, standing in for Preston Mommsen on this tour, says his country has not played enough cricket. "Simple answer is 'No', there is not enough cricket. I guess we all like to play more cricket and get a slightly bigger piece of the pie. But we will be pushing for a bigger slice of our share in 2017."
Coming to the Desert Challenge, he said, "Our preparations have been good. It's been our second day of practice on grass so the guys are finding their feet."
Scotland are grouped with The Netherlands, Oman and Hong Kong but Drummond admitted there are no easy T20 matches.
"All sides have a match-winner with the bat or the ball. At best we have to try and minimise your opposition's skills and maximise your own. It's about understanding the game and reading the situation."
Pool A: Ireland, Afghanistan, Namibia and UAE.
Pool B: The Netherlands, Oman, Scotland and Hong Kong.
clareto@khaleejtimes.com