Kirby desperate to take chance

Steve Kirby © Getty Images

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Steve Kirby has vowed to grab his latest chance at international level “with both hands” as England Lions target a place in the Duleep Trophy final.

Should the tourists avoid defeat in the Group B match with West Zone that begins on Monday, they will guarantee their passage.

Seamer Kirby, who was not even in the original touring party in India, is expected to spearhead the attack and he is relishing an opportunity he feared had passed him by.

“I’m just absolutely gobsmacked. Just to be part of this unit is fantastic for me,” the 30-year-old Gloucestershire paceman said.

“It’s a chance I’m really trying to grab with both hands.”

Kirby has toured with the England Academy before but appeared to be out in the cold until injuries to Steven Davies and Kabir Ali gave him his latest chance.

“I was always quietly confident behind the scenes that I could get back in,” he said.

“I was hoping to have another good season with Gloucestershire.

Kirby has had a successful tour of India © Getty Images

“This is just superb, really. To get involved with a team like this is fantastic.”

Kirby shone with second-innings figures of 3-12 in the tour opener against a Mumbai XI and was also among the wickets in last week’s Duleep Trophy victory against Central Zone.

West Zone can finish level with the Lions on six points in Group B should they match the winning draw they managed against Central but the tourists would then progress by virtue of more wins.

Kirby said: “The lads are really, really upbeat about tomorrow. We’ve had some really hard training over the last three or four days and everyone’s looking forward to getting stuck in.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of wicket we come up on tomorrow, we’re just going to try our best.”

The Lions are attempting to become the first overseas team to win the Duleep Trophy and have already improved on the record of the 2003-04 English second string, including Kevin Pietersen, which lost both matches.

West Zone are one of the favourites for the tournament, however, and include India internationals Parthiv Patel and Ramesh Powar.

“Tomorrow’s game is going to be the hardest we have on the tour,” Kirby said.

“We know that they have got a lot of fantastic cricketers in their side. I think we’d be wrong not to be thinking about both those players.

“But if we stick to our basics and stick to our confident way of playing, it isn’t going to matter who we come up against.”