'Focusing on putting good performances consistently,' Gareth Delany

Ireland cricketer Gareth Delany has his goals set as he eyes a spot in the national team's squad for the T20 World Cup 2022. Although Delany played a crucial role for the Ireland Wolves in the drawn ODI series against Namibia, he did not feature in the preceding T20 matches.

However, the all-rounder has made a strong case for himself to get a chance in the shortest format of the game as his performance in the ODI series was second to none. 

Delany scored 282 runs at an average of 70.50 against the African outfit. He was a class act with the ball as well and ended the series as the joint-highest wicket-taker with 10 scalps.

The 24-year-old desires to represent Ireland in the mega T20 event, but his priority as of now lies in becoming a regular member of the ODI setup.

"My main aim ahead of the series was to make a case to be included in the upcoming ODI squads by putting in some good performances with both the bat and the ball, so I was pretty happy to perform on this trip," Delany said as quoted by Cricket World.

Reflecting on his game plan in the concluded series, Delany shared how it was all about sticking to his strengths.

"In terms of the batting, I think it was trusting my game plan and trying to play to my strengths, so allowing myself time early on in my innings to assess conditions and mainly focus on rotating the strike and backing myself to catch-up later on in the innings. With the ball I was just trying to be consistent in attacking the stumps and build pressure by not going for boundaries and force the batter to take more risk where possible."

Despite his good show, the Irish all-rounder is still not confirmed for a spot in the ODI lineup of the team. 

'I'd like to think I can break into the team, but the ODI side has been performing very well for a long period of time, - plus there’s a lot of competition for places with guys having put in some very good performances. So the only thing that I can focus on will be to try and put in some good performances consistently over the summer to keep pushing myself into contention," he added.

A packed cricketing year awaits Ireland. The team would face off mighty oppositions in the form of India, New Zealand and Afghanistan in the 2022 summer. 

"It's a really exciting summer of cricket. There was a definite buzz among the group when the India games were announced, after the massive crowds and atmosphere when they were here back in 2018. As a group, we want to play as much cricket against the top teams as possible and that is certainly the case this summer," Delany stated.

The Dublin-born is hopeful of boarding the flight to Australia if extends his good form to the inter-provincial series for the Munster Reds.

"With T20Is, it's probably harder to put a consistent run of good performances together given the nature of the format, but if I can put in some match-winning performances with the bat and ball for Munster at Inter-Pro level, and perform at international level during the home internationals, it puts me in a good place to be part of that World Cup squad come October," he concluded.

Ireland's next scheduled international assignment is a two-match T20 series against India, that starts on June 26.