Josh Little: Irish bowler keen to recreate historic glories at T20 World Cup | Cricket News

Josh Little is eager to help Ireland write a new chapter in their history after remembering the time he spent a sleepless night with a current international teammate to witness a famous World Cup victory.

The designer, now 21, was 15 and still in school when he was staying up late with Harry Tector six years ago. Glued to television, the duo watched Niall O’Brien’s half-century of unbeaten play against the West Indies in New Zealand to record another momentous victory on the biggest stage.

This marked Ireland’s most recent notable victory in a major competition, having also recorded superb wins against England and Pakistan in previous tournaments.

All three of those results have come in cricket at 50, but Ireland will aim to convert those historic glories to the shorter format when they begin their ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup campaign on Monday against Holland, live on Sky Sports.

Little said: “Reaching a World Cup was something I’ve always wanted to do and we’ve had decent preparation so I’m dying to commit to it now.

He recalled spending a sleepless night at age 15 with teammate Harry Tector (center) to watch Ireland beat the West Indies

“Me and Harry Tector, who is also on the team, remember he was staying with me at the time and we stayed up all night watching Ireland beat the West Indies.

“I remember that World Cup very well and all the guys I admired that I play with now, so it’s special to be with them. « 

Paul Stirling, Kevin O’Brien, Andy Balbirnie, Andy McBrine and George Dockrell all featured in this win over the West Indies and are part of Head Coach Graham Ford’s 15-man squad for the competition, based in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Alongside these seasoned players, Ireland have several young players keen to move up from a Group A containing Sri Lanka, the Netherlands and Namibia, all vying for a top-two spot, which would send them out. at the Super 12 and keep them in the tournament for another fortnight. .

Little added: “This Sri Lanka game is absolutely huge. They are a world class team and if we win it would be very special. First, it’s Holland and we’ll be dying to get one back after losing the series day in the summer.

“It will be a very good game. Hope we can return them and like I said Sri Lanka is obviously a great team but we think we can return anyone our day. Then Namibia is another which will be a tough challenge but we are supporting each other to win this. « 

The country’s form ahead of its first major competition in five years has been brilliant, with a T20 series victory over Zimbabwe this summer and recent wins over Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates proving their pedigree.

Ireland also pushed South Africa hard in both white ball formats in July, with the Little seamer doing no harm to its burgeoning reputation with seven wickets.

Little is a fiery character and made headlines when he sent a farewell to England hitter Jonny Bairstow (right)

He again demonstrated his fiery character when he was fined over an incident with Quinton de Kock which reminded him of how he liquidated England hitter Jonny Bairstow last year by giving the England hitter a fort goodbye.

“This is exactly how I run my business. I’m just a naturally very competitive person and always have been, ”said Little, from Dublin.

“I used to play hockey at a decent level and I was very competitive, so people say I become a little different guy on the field, but that’s because I want to do so well. I can’t wait to go.

“We play the game because we want to beat the great teams and show the world what we’re capable of. We’ve beaten England, South Africa and the West Indies lately so we can do it and we’re all ready to give it a try and do it again. «