No reason why we can't beat USA and Pakistan: Stirling

Ireland captain Paul Stirling has called for his side to adapt to the conditions in the ongoing T20 World Cup quickly and play better cricket in order to reverse their fortunes. Ireland suffered a massive loss against India in their tournament opener and then went down for a second time to Canada on Friday.

While Net Run Rate may not come into the picture for Ireland, Stirling first wants to focus on his side just improving and getting wins under their belt. "We've got two huge games," he said after the defeat. "Still massive every time you put on the shirt you want to go and win, but no reason why we can't go and beat USA and Pakistan. We need to play a hell of a lot better if we're going to want to do that. But different conditions, we know them slightly better and will certainly be given it as best a crack as we can.

"I think we just want to play as good a cricket as we possibly can. I've sort of hammered for at least the last year that if we don't play our best cricket, we will not win games of cricket. So, we need to get back to our best for next week."

Having been giant killers themselves in the past, Stirling was asked if there is frustration in the Irish camp for not having taken the next leap in world cricket. "I wouldn't say it's frustrating, no," he remarked. "I think knowing from where we've come from - it actually doesn't surprise you. It's not a huge thing, it might be in different levels of the media, but we certainly know not to take anyone lightly from where we've come from and that's just what happened today.

"They played better cricket than us for three hours and they won the game, simple as that. That doesn't really, for me, matter what their tagline is, associate or full member or what, they just played smarter cricket, better cricket all day than us and they won."

Jeremy Gordon, one of Canada's heroes with the ball, conceded that there was a personal satisfaction behind the win given how he fared in that opening game against the USA. "I think just coming back from obviously the first game where we thought we should have won that game," he said.

"I feel like all three departments, we kind of ticked today, so it's a magnificent win for us. I'm very happy obviously to contribute to the team success because I personally felt my over is what kind of gave it away the last game, so for me to come back and help the team get over the line to me, I feel like I've done a good job so I'm quite happy."

This win has given Canada confidence ahead of sterner tests against Pakistan and India, according to Gordon. "There's definitely a lot of confidence - so for us obviously, it's to do the basics right and to be disciplined," he said.

"It's not for us to get ahead of ourselves - basically just obviously appreciate the win, but then just go back to the drawing board keep working our games because like I said, it's going to be Pakistan and India. Those are obviously two of the better teams in the world currently so for us, its again ticking the box in terms of being disciplined in all three areas; batting, bowling and fielding. I feel like if we do that, we might give a good account for ourselves in a day, and who knows what could happen."