Bludgeoning O'Brien Batters Bewildered Hong Kong as Ireland Reach Bangladeshi Goal

Ireland's power hitter was at his belligerent best today bludgeoning 62 from 27 balls with 3 fours and 5 towering maximums.

O'Brien was also full of praise for Ireland's Spin Twins George Dockrell and Paul Stirling who have successfully operated in the middle overs throughout the tournament so far, slowing down teams and forcing opposing batsmen to take chances and thus get out.

Barry Chambers: Kevin a brilliant performance, and on a personal level yourself shades of Bangalore there, you were striking the ball really well?

Kevin O'Brien: Ah you know it's obviously great to win and get first place in the Group and thus guarantee World Cup competition next year. But yeah, I suppose personally it's just nice to get a score on the board.

I said I think I've been hitting it ok in the other games, just that I wasn't finding the boundaries, I suppose. But I think today obviously to hit a couple of sixes and a few fours, it kind of just calmed me down a bit and, I just got going.

Barry Chambers: And obviously they came at you very hard, were you ever worried? I mean you can never relax can you?

Kevin O'Brien: No of course, I think we saw on the videos, you know, they can all strike a ball. But obviously with the bowling attack that we have, and the skills that we have at our disposal, to continuously score at ten an over is a tough ask.

You know you've got George and Stirlo in the middle who have bowled very well this tournament.  Teams are always going to score heavily up front in the first six overs, but it's about that seven to ten and then the eleven to thirteen over period that's crucial. And I think that's where we have dominated a lot of teams in this tournament.

Barry Chambers: And you'll enjoy another World Cup Finals and another trip to Bangladesh, you've been there before?

Kevin O'Brien: Hopefully yeah, fingers crossed if I make the team, injury permitting as well, I suppose. But yeah it's going to be a great achievement again from the squad, and it's going to be a great tournament to play in.