George Dockrell - No limit to where Ireland can go

THE term ‘Young Irish Spinner’ doesn’t seem an apt description for someone like George Dockrell. It feels like he has been playing for Ireland since the beginning of time. He made his debut at the age of 18, was part of the Ireland team who defeated England at the 2011 World Cup in Mumbai and  just five months short of his 22^nd birthday, he has just become the youngest person ever to reach 100 caps for Ireland.

Currently out in Jamaica with the Ireland squad, Robert O’Reardon caught up with the left arm spinner, who was part of the Ireland team that defeated West Indies by six wickets on their own patch. Not a stranger to victories of this magnitude, Dockrell was impressed at how much of a unit the team looked and reserved special praise for Ed Joyce.

“It was a superb win from us. Probably the most pleasing thing was how we played as a team and how we gelled as a bowling unit and how we batted. Especially the knock from Ed. It was excellent. It was extremely calm and cool.”

The Irish team have two games left on this tour before they head for the World T20 in Bangladesh which starts on the 17^th of March against Afghanistan.

“It took a while for the team to settle but they are now reaping the rewards for their efforts. It was tough coming over and losing those first two games. It took us a bit of time to acclimatise, get used to the pitches and to get things going.

“I think the win last night was ideal and a big couple of weeks coming up. Game on Friday and the one day game after that. We want to work on a couple of things and take them into the World Cup in Bangladesh. Heading off for Prep camp and we’ve a couple of warm up games in Bangladesh. Still a lot of time to go and still a lot of things to work on but at the moment we are definitely going in the right direction.”

The previous year has been pretty big for Irish cricket and the public are always interested in how far this team can go. Dockrell is very confident that the last tweleve months, especially the games against the big nations in Dublin, has shown that big things are still on the horizon for the team with the games coming up in May against Sri Lanka.

“I think if you look at the results we had last year, the three trophies we won, even if you look at the games, the ODI against England in Malahide which we should have won from the position we were in and the two ODI's against Pakistan where we drew one, which again, we should have won and then the second one which was in the balance.

“The group of players we have; obviously there is a huge amount of talent there and a huge amount of experience. We know ourselves when things come together and we play our best cricket that we can beat any team out there and the big thing for us is that we are always at our peak and getting the best out of ourselves. There is no real limit as to how far we can improve.

“It will be another big couple of games for us. Sri Lanka are an extremely talented bunch of cricketers. In our home conditions and if we play our own brand of cricket there is no reason why we can’t win that series 2-0. It will be important for us that we can put in two huge performances and hopefully get a bit of support to back that up. I think it works both ways. If we play great cricket it means we can get the fans in. Hopefully we can have two could games and get the crowd to support us.”

The recent changes in the ICC have given hope that Ireland will be granted Test Status, or at least given the chance to compete for a spot amongst the elite. It is made clear that the players have to keep working hard and make sure that the opportunity comes their way and that they take it.

“I think it’s great to have that pathway and that opportunity but I think the biggest thing we can do is to keep winning games. We've been pretty successful in the Intercontinental cup in recent years obviously winning the latest final in December against Afghanistan. It’s up to us to keep on working hard and getting the best out of ourselves. We've gotta make sure that we keep winning games to put us in that position.”

However, not all has been good for the Irish team on this tour. Batsmen John Mooney had to return home with a stress related illness after the first game. This is not uncommon in cricket, as players often spend lots of time away from their families. The most famous recent example is Jonathan Trott, who returned home from England’s Ashes tour with a similar issue. It is clear that the squad have been affected by his absence and will strive to get through it.

“It was sad to see John home and we obviously wish him the best of luck. He's an inspirational kind of player. He's great guy who gets everybody else going. He plays with so much passion and pride. It’s a loss to obviously to see him go home but it opens the door for someone else to come in fill his boots.

“We've had a number of players come in over the past few years, big players who've departed the squad and it’s up to the rest of us to fill that gap. Whether it is a new player coming in or other players giving an extra 5%.”

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