2011 World Cup Win Against England Had A Big Bearing On Ireland Cricket Feels Kevin O'Brien

Ireland All-rounder Kevin O’Brien Feels that his century in Bangalore against a top-quality England side had instilled a lot of confidence for his nation to aim higher. He produced an innings of his life with a blistering century which is still the fastest century in a world cup and helped his team to get over the line in a massive chase of 328.

The Bangalore crowd witnessed an absolute carnage as Kevin O’Brien brought up his hundred in just 50 balls against a star-studded bowling lineup of England comprising James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Graeme Swann. Ireland’s staged two biggest upsets in two consecutive world cups, their extraordinary effort to win against Pakistan in 2007 WorldCup, and this win in 2011 against the English team just shook the world.

Kevin O Brien Admits The Knock Urged To Strive For More

Kevin O Brien recalled his Bangalore knock playing a major part in pushing the Ireland Cricket forward and reminded the cricket world of the amount of talent they possess. He added that urged them to strive for more success and not just for qualifying for the big tournaments. He revealed that Ireland’s long-term dream was to become a full member of ICC and get the test status and indeed, they happened to fulfil the dream.

“I can’t believe it’s years ago, it’s come fast but so much has happened since then. I’ll always look back on that day with a smile,. I’d like to think it had a big bearing on cricket in Ireland as a whole, similar to the win over Pakistan in 2007″, he told the PA news agency.

“Maybe some of the general public in Ireland had forgotten about us, forgotten we had a cricket team. We were able to remind people who might not have been massive cricket fans that we can compete on the world stage and beat the bigger nations. It probably opened Cricket Ireland’s eyes and soon they were thinking ‘why don’t we try and strive for something more?’.”

“The feeling was that we should be looking to achieve more than just qualifying for a tournament every few years and being happy with our lot. A few people thought ‘why don’t we reach for the stars?’ Playing Test cricket for Ireland, as a full-member nation, started as a pipe dream. It was a long shot but we did it,” he added.

Kevin O’Brien Cherishes Memories Of The Victory Over England

He told about feeling excited to see the highlights of his innings against England randomly on television and whenever he needs some positivity, he had looked back at this innings against a good quality bowling attack. He added that he cherished every moment in the next four weeks in the tournament after the innings and felt like a rockstar.

“It always puts a smile on the face, looking back on that victory against England. It’s a nice feeling to be flicking across the channels and see the highlights,. If I ever need a bit of positivity about my game, if I’m out of form, I know I’ve done it before and I can do it again. I look at the attack from that day and it’s the real deal – England’s best spinner of modern times in Swann, with two of the best fast bowlers that have ever been produced.”

“I guess it was just one of those days for me. We had another four weeks at the tournament and, honestly, it felt like I lived the life of a rock star for a short time. The India fans loved the innings and loved me for it,” he added.