Ireland confident of causing another upset

For the cricket romantic, there is nothing to beat the feeling of an underdog overcoming a major opponent, but the most absorbing cricket happens most often between closely matched sides. That's certainly been the case with Ireland and Zimbabwe, who sit next to each other at the bottom of cricket's top table and have produced several truly engaging contests. Ireland have the added incentive of one-upping a Test side to further their own goals as a cricketing nation.

"It's a series away from home against a team that's ranked very close to us, so it's important because we want to keep progressing up the ladder," Ireland captain William Porterfield said ahead of the first ODI. "If we can get a series win here it's going to be great for ourselves and great for cricket in Ireland, and also good to put points on the board in terms of rankings. We're pretty similar on the table and they've generally been close games, here in Harare and at the World Cup, and we've had a tie as well. Both teams are pretty confident coming into this series that they can get that series win."

Since their scene-stealing appearance at the 2007 World Cup, when they tied with Zimbabwe and beat Pakistan to get through to the Super Eights, Ireland have progressed steadily and Porterfield suggested they are on the verge of pushing their way into cricket's elite stable. Series such as this one are crucial to that aim.

"Take a look over the past couple of years, what's happened in Ireland, not just on the cricket pitch but off the cricket pitch in terms of the board and the amount of work that's gone on there to restructure and fall in line with everything that needs to be put in place to become a Test team," Porterfield said.

"A lot of credit has to go off the pitch as much as on the pitch. And it's performances on the pitch that are going to keep us moving forward and give us ammunition for the board to get the financial backing that they need from the ICC and sponsors. We know as players how important it is to keep putting those performances in for Ireland to keep moving forward. We're in a really good place at the moment and series like this are crucial for us.

"Once you go out there and step across the line to play for your country, that's what everyone has wanted to do since they were a kid: put on the green jersey. So in terms of motivational needs, no matter who you're playing against, it shouldn't be an issue. It's been the case with ourselves that once we go out there to play one-day international cricket it's a great honour and every game should be like that. As long as that continues to be the case, and that pride and willingness to go out and perform for your country is there, then we'll always be in a good place."

Motivated as they may be, Ireland haven't had a great deal of time to acclimatise to conditions - and temperatures - far removed from home. But for coach John Bracewell his side's experience in county cricket and on the treadmill of the Associate game has made them highly adaptable.

"We're lucky that a lot of our guys have just come out of an English summer playing county cricket, we're following on from our summer so we've got enough cricket behind us," Bracewell said. "We've acclimatised pretty quickly in terms of dealing with the change of surfaces between the Northern hemisphere and here. We're really pleased with the practice facilities that have been provided for us, which have looked very similar to the square itself.

"So we've trained quite specifically to our needs, and our guys are reasonably experienced in terms of adaptability. A number of them have been on the events circuit for quite some time now, so they're starting to pick up a routine of adjusting from surface to surface which is part and parcel of international touring."

Bracewell and Ireland have enlisted the services of former Zimbabwe batsman Dave Houghton as a batting consultant for this tour, and Bracewell suggested that his value to the team extended beyond batting tips given the parallels between Houghton's Zimbabwe side in the 1980s and Ireland's current situation.

"He brings the value of having travelled the same journey as Ireland is trying to travel - that journey into Test cricket," Bracewell said. "I can remember playing against Dave in 1984 when Zimbabwe were attempting to get into Test cricket and how competitive and solution based they were as a team. Very resourceful in the way they went about their business with limited resources, and they were a bit of a golden generation. So a similar sort of parallel to Ireland's journey in a way. It's not only his coaching experience that we're getting, it's also his playing and having travelled the same journey as Ireland are attempting to.

"That Zimbabwe side was an extremely resourceful side, and it carried on for the next generation when the Flowers and everybody else came through as well. It helped to set the foundation for cricket still being played at a strong level in this country now."

Bracewell's own experience of Zimbabwean conditions will also be useful to Ireland. He toured the country as part of a Young New Zealand side in 1984, and returned as New Zealand's coach more than 20 years later. He admitted that the Zimbabwe he found this time around with Ireland was a far cry from the tumultuous situation he experienced in 2005.

"The last time I was here was 2005, when we played a tri-series with India as well, and the country was in a state where we were taking a wheelbarrow full of money to go and buy a burger sort of thing. We were pretty much in lockdown and those sorts of tours are quite hard. Whereas we've come here now and we're staying in a really lovely hotel with a great coffee shop. We can walk down to the supermarket just down the road and that freedom of movement just allows the players to relax a little bit and enjoy touring. So the guys are loving the stay.

"We've been greeted with enormous hospitality and manners, and it diffuses any tension that you may feel or may not. It's just a good part of the world to be in. The sun's shining and we've come from Ireland where it rains 90 percent of the time. You want to get out and practice and then you want to get out and play. It was hard to get the guys home from practice yesterday and we'd only been in the country two days. They were enjoying it that much."