Ireland cricketers aiming to 'give it a real shot' against Scotland in T20 World Cup

George Dockrell has revealed Ireland have been scouring footage of Scotland’s shock victory over the West Indies as they bid kickstart their own T20 World Cup campaign on Wednesday.

Scotland knocked off the two-time winners to land a major upset in the opening round of fixtures, while the boys in green were soundly beaten by Zimbabwe.

That means it is already now or never time as the near neighbours prepare to face each other in Hobart in search of a place in the Super 12 stage.

Scotland’s Mark Watt was seen scanning a handwritten note while bowling against the Windies and Dockrell has promised Ireland will be doing their homework too.

“Obviously Scotland started really well and played a great game of cricket. We’ll be able to look at what they did, how they played in that game and try and pick up a few things,” said the all-rounder.

“I think a lot of the guys watched a little bit of it. There was a lot of travel in between and we watched some of the game from the sideline, as well. We had a good look, and probably will watch a little bit more of the game again later and tomorrow morning, to pick up anything we can.”

Dockrell was disappointed with how his team’s clash with Zimbabwe played out, with early wickets effectively scuppering their chase before the powerplay was over, but believes the quickfire nature of the tournament gives them a welcome chance to put things right swiftly.

“It was a disappointing start to the week and not what we had planned, but I guess that’s the reality of this kind of knockout cricket and how things go,” he said. “I think you’re hurting at the time, but you wake up in the morning and you have a very quick turnaround.

“You know if you go out and win the next two matches, you’ll be in a good spot.

“I think all the guys had a good think around the game and are in a pretty good headspace now to give it a real shot. A big thing for us is probably trying to execute a little bit better in terms of what we can do with ball and bat.”