Ireland's mental block
Losing games under pressure is a trend that dates back to the start of the Super League campaign
Ireland have a pressure problem.
In many ways, how could they not? They withstood three years of being told that they were not playing any red ball cricket so they could focus on World Cup qualification. That lengthy period of frustration, valuable time in an athlete’s career not spent playing the longest format, would be defined by just a handful of matches in Bulawayo.
Ireland’s sacrifice came up short. Then, with the pressure of seeking qualification off, they have comprehensively beaten the UAE and USA.
A successful trip to Zimbabwe was always unlikely given the cut-throat nature of the competition and the form of the fellow full members. The bigger failure came long before these qualifiers, as seen in the multitude of close games they lost during the ODI Super League, with plenty of defeats coming from a winning position. It’s worth listing each occasion.
January 2021 - Ireland lose to Afghanistan by 16 runs. Chasing 288, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector and Curtis Campher all got starts. Wickets fell reasonably consistently but once Lorcan Tucker was out for 83 as the ninth wicket, with 35 needed off the final two overs, Ireland fell short.
January 2021 - Ireland lose to Afghanistan by 36 runs. A wider margin of defeat, but despite a Paul Stirling century in a modest-ish chase of 267, Ireland fell short. Stirling was effectively a one-man band that day, with no one else able to muster more than 24.
June 2021 - Ireland lose to the Netherlands by 1 run. The infamous series where the quality of pitches was a source of controversy. Chasing just 195 for victory, again Ireland came up short despite 69 from Paul Stirling and 45 from Simi Singh. When Stirling departed in the 37th over, 60 runs were needed with four wickets still remaining, but the tail could not wag sufficiently.
September 2021 - Ireland lose to Zimbabwe by 38 runs. William Porterfield and Harry Tector both passed 50 in a chase of 267. From a platform of 163-3, needing just over 100 more in 15 overs, Ireland collapsed, losing their final seven wickets for just 65 runs.
July 2022 - Ireland lose to New Zealand by 1 wicket. The infamous Michael Bracewell game. Needing 20 off the last over with one wicket remaining, New Zealand looked dead and buried. That was until Craig Young fell victim to Bracewell, being hit for five boundaries to hand Ireland a crushing defeat in Malahide.
July 2022 - Ireland lose to New Zealand by 1 run. Ireland needed 366 to win, by no means an easy task, but one that should have been completed after centuries from both Stirling and Tector. Martin Guptill took a stunning one-handed catch to remove Gareth Delany, who had until that point justified his promotion up the order to attack the Kiwi spinners. It was a match-winning piece of fielding.
May 2023 - Ireland lose to Bangladesh by 4 runs. World Cup qualification was gone at this stage, but Chelmsford was nonetheless a pressure cooker filled with a rapturous Bangladeshi support in a tight finish. Stirling (60), Balbirnie (53), Tector (45) and Tucker (50) all got starts but no one player put in the dominant innings that would have won the match. Nonetheless, Mark Adair seemed to be taking Ireland home after hitting a series of boundaries down the ground. Ireland needed 10 off the last over and were favourites with Adair on strike. He tried to ramp the first ball over fine leg who was up in the ring, a shot he doesn’t play all that much, failing to make contact as his stumps were disturbed. Andy McBrine, Young and Josh Little couldn’t get Ireland over the line from there.
Defeats in close games happen to everyone - natural variance happens - but it is hard to escape the idea they have plagued Ireland more than most. Victory in just three of the above games would have earned Ireland 30 further Super League points. They finished 25 points behind South Africa for the final automatic qualification spot.
Results alone indicate that a mental malaise has seeped into this group over a significant period of time. Then the players spoke to the media after the recent victory over the USA in the 7th place playoff semi-final.
Here’s Craig Young:
“Once we lost the game that decided it [being knocked out of World Cup contention], it’s like a monkey off your back. The lads are free to go out and express themselves. There are a lot of nerves, you can’t help that naturally.
“We’re now playing a brand of cricket that we want to play but it’s unfortunate it’s come to the stage it has.”
And here’s Andrew Balbirnie:
“There’s a different energy about us. It was a nervous group at the start of the week, we knew the pressure that was on us. I think in hindsight that maybe affected us. I think the guys have a weight of their shoulders now and we’re enjoying it. Hopefully we can win one more game [against Nepal on Tuesday, the 7th place decider].”
On one level, they are just stating the obvious. It’s easier to be relaxed and play your best cricket when little is at stake. Nerves are always present. Once those were gone, albeit for negative reasons, Ireland found it easier to let their ability shine through.
Young’s comments, and those of the skipper, reflect another stark reality. For all the talk of the brand of cricket Ireland want to play, of being fearless and positive, scoring lots of runs and scoring them fast, they have still not yet figured out how to consistently unlock that when it matters most.
Often a fear of failure is behind such an inability. This fear can stem from a lack of faith in one’s own ability to get the job done. Looking at this Irish side, it is difficult to see many players who should question their own talent. Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, George Dockrell and Curtis Campher have all displayed form that must send self-confidence sky-rocketing. Paul Stirling has struggled at times recently but if there is one Irish player who has played enough cricket to not doubt himself, it is him. Balbirnie too has struggled for form, but at least publicly, he has stated time and again a belief in his ability and a deep understanding of his own game.
Sports psychology is a fascinating labyrinth of unanswered questions. If anyone had all the answers, the game would be boring as players would know how to unlock the best of their ability every single time they step out onto the field. Yet there are still sports psychologists who get paid a lot of money the world over.
Ireland have one at their disposal, but he hasn’t been used since the 2022 T20 World Cup. Michael Caulfield, good enough to also work with Premier League outfit Brentford, used to travel to bilateral series with Ireland, notably to the bubble in England in 2020 and to the Caribbean in the same year. Now, according to Cricket Ireland (CI) sources, he will only be utilised for major events such as World Cups. He will be waiting until 2024 at the earliest.
Other sources indicate Caulfield has been used by CI for the last time, despite his popularity with the players. Two stories are being told, but regardless of which is true, one absolute fact remains: Ireland did not bring their performance expert to this year’s pinnacle event despite the squad continually finding different ways to lose vital matches over a long period of time.
If cost was an issue, there was another option in-house available until recently. Gary Keegan used to sit on the Cricket Ireland board. Keegan is currently the performance coach with the Irish rugby team. The recent Grand Slam-winning squad has developed a very un-Irish ability to crave and thrive on adversity, to achieve a state of mental bliss that allows them to unlock their playing potential time and again no matter what is thrown at them. Keegan has worked hard to keep himself out of the public eye - he doesn’t do interviews - but the Irish players worship the ground he walks on.
It is unclear if Keegan was ever asked to work with Ireland’s cricketers.
Ireland’s cricketers do have weekly sessions with psychologists available to them, via Sport Northern Ireland, but none of these professionals travel with the team. There are none of the informal chats at the back of the nets that can make a world of difference.
Of course, it isn’t solely the remit of a sports psychologist or performance coach to create a positive mental environment for players. Sticking to the rugby example, Andy Farrell is revered by those in Irish rugby circles for how his own desire to overcome adversity has rubbed off on the players. For all the best psychological work in the world, the head coach sets the tone.
Heinrich Malan, Ireland’s cricket head coach, spends many an hour studying how to build a positive environment for his players. A cursory look at his Twitter reveals a series of inspirational quotes and positive messages centred on self-empowerment.
In his two years in the Ireland job, something has clearly gone right with Ireland’s T20 side, allowing them to perform when it matters most. During last year’s World Cup, Curtis Campher and George Dockrell produced two of the best short-form innings in Irish history when staring down the barrel of yet another premature World Cup exit.
T20 World Cup: Gareth Delany comes full circle with player of the match performance
A game later, with progression again on the line in a must-win clash over the West Indies, Gareth Delany put in a career-best display with the ball while Balbirnie and Paul Stirling launched into a tricky chase of a middling total with complete disregard for the prospect of failure.
In the Super Eights, Ireland did just about enough against England to hold on for the rain in another famous victory. In that clash, Josh Little knew the risk of offering width to Jos Buttler but still backed himself to push the ball across arguably the best limited overs batter in history and take his edge, a dismissal that probably won Ireland the game.
Andrew Balbirnie: ‘It’s surreal to beat the best T20 team in the world’
Yet six months on, that freedom, the ability to focus on the reward rather than the risk, has gone. Maybe the players are truly still focusing on the rewards without necessarily earning them, but their own comments about playing better when little is at stake suggest otherwise.
Malan deserves credit for regenerating the T20 side, but Ireland now look a shell of themselves in their supposedly stronger format. The coach has earned the chance to fix this issue ahead of the upcoming T20 qualifiers. Even if he doesn’t, it is difficult to be see CI being able to afford to buy out the last year of his contract, should the situation deteriorate to that extent.
Once a mental issue like this seeps in, someone needs to step up to fix it. It has to be Malan given he has no sports psychology professional at his disposal when the side travels.
It is a difficult task. Such a process can spiral out of control and risk veering into the territory of losing the changing room. Once that happens, there is no recovery.
Great article as always. It's cool having someone cover Irish cricket as you do. Keegan does seem to have a golden touch. You mentioned he is an ex CI board member but the CI website lists Keegan as both a current board member (independent director since 2020) and also currently Chair of High Performance Committee. His own linked-in says working with CI since 2017 to present. Did he definitely stop working with CI?