Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie expressed his content with the performance of his team in the T20 World Cup despite losing their final Super 12 match to New Zealand in Adelaide on Friday, November 4. Ireland were eliminated from the competition before their final match but will go home with their heads held high after a solid tournament capped by a brilliant hat-trick at the hands of pacer Josh Little.
"We played a top-class team and when you play such teams, you need to capitalize on all the opportunities. We bowled well right through the tournament, the fielding was a bit off," Balbirnie said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"(Coming to today) It was nice to set up a platform - that has been a trend in this tournament, but we needed someone to kick on from there.
The Kiwis started strong with skipper Kane Williamson coming back to form. However, Little took his wicket in the 19th over, and then got James Neesham and Mitchell Santner as well, as the Kiwis set up a target of 185 for six. In response, the Irish were only restricted to 150 for the loss of nine wickets.
The win saw Kane Williamson's team cement the top spot in Group 1 with seven points and a huge run-rate advantage over second-placed England and third-placed Australia. New Zealand's semi-final berth will almost certainly be confirmed later on Friday with the result of the Australia-Afghanistan match at the same venue.
Balbirnie reserved special praise for his team's left-arm pacer Little, who dismissed captain Williamson for 61, then trapped both James Neesham and Mitchell Santner lbw for no score in the 19th over to bring up Ireland's second hat-trick in T20 internationals.
"We're quite happy with what we achieved (in the tournament), compared to where we were in the last 12 months, we have improved a lot, especially against good teams and we are looking forward to meeting these sides once again. (On Josh Little) He's a class operator and showed it today," Balbirnie added.
