Johnston pleased by Irish

Trent Johnston © CricketEurope

Ireland captain Trent Johnston felt his team lacked the killer instinct in their 35-run World Cup warm-up defeat to South Africa at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground.

South Africa recovered from 91 for eight to post a competitive 192 before dismissing the tournament debutants for 157.

Johnson revealed that when South Africa faltered at 60 for seven, there were thoughts of dismissing them for less than 100.

He said: “It did not happen for us, the team did not have the firepower to bowl out South Africa, they did not possess the firepower to end South Africa's innings early. This hampered us in the end.”

In spite of the loss, Johnson was very happy with his team's competitiveness.

He said: “The bowlers did very well in particular. The pitch was a new-ball pitch and we made good use of it. This was really great after the struggles we had in Kenya recently.”

Johnston believes the performance is certain to inspire his players and insisted they would only become more competitive when the World Cup begins.

“We have had a good start and hopefully we will be able to put other areas of our game together so we will be hitting the straps when we meet Zimbabwe in our opening game,” he said.

“My major goal for my team at this World Cup is to be competitive and we have shown that we are in this first match.”

Mickey Arthur © Getty Images

South Africa coach Mickey Arthur was not worried about the close shave, blaming the absence of match practise for the indifferent performance.

“The guys haven't had a hit for about two weeks and hence the performance you saw out there today,” he said.

“We were looking for a partnership hopefully up front, but it did not happen. However, we were lucky to get it at the end from Hally (Andrew Hall) and Robby (Robin Peterson).”

Hall (67 not out) and Peterson (29) added 85 for the ninth wicket as South Africa recovered to post 192.

Arthur was unconcerned with the performance of his batsmen.

He said: “They will come good at the right time. We don’t want to peak too early. The batting will come good soon.

“The guys were in terrific form against Pakistan at home and they would come good, I am sure.”

If anything, Arthur was more upset about his side's fielding, saying: “The fielding, I thought, was not up to what we set ourselves but I put this down to the heavy fitness schedule which the boys have been under and they were probably too heavy on their feet.”

Hall, who also took 3-26, was happy to get in some practise out in the middle and was looking forward to more great performances as the tournament progresses.

He said: “I was happy to be out there in the middle. I got a lot of time to bat and this is good for me because I did not get to bat in the middle for about two months.

“I was happy to perform the role that the team wants from me and I know that I can make a contribution to the team’s effort at this World Cup.”