Heinrich Malan backs skipper Andrew Balbirnie amidst inconsistent form 

Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan has offered his support to skipper Andrew Balbirnie in the middle of trying times. The Dublin-born has been unable to perform since his 60 against India in June. In the recently concluded series with New Zealand at home, the skipper had only been able to score 11 runs in 3 ODIs. 

Although Balbirnie's place in the squad is cemented, his position as an opener has come under discussion. 

Malan's thoughts on inconsistency

“Andrew has played for Ireland for a very long time and has performed for a long time, he is the leader of our troops and we are happy the way he leads us as a group on and off the field. We are excited to see him do the same over this series and into the World Cup.”

Andrew Balbirnie during his career best 145* against Afghanistan

“We have Andy McBrine, Gareth and George (Dockrell) is Ireland’s leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket and over the last couple of summers has been one of the leading wicket-takers in domestic cricket. We have real options in that space depending on the match-ups.”

“We have a lot of IQ in the room from our senior players so we have been tapping into that since the quick turnaround from Bristol, but we just want to build on our performances and if we show consistency, we will get across the line in this series and I’m really looking forward to seeing the boys building in that space.” 

Ireland take on Afghanistan next 

Ireland are all set to battle it out with Afghanistan in a 5-match T20I series. The first match will take place today at Stormont stadium, Belfast at 8:00 PM.

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