If we play our best cricket, we can beat England in final ODI: Harry Tector

BRISTOL – Harry Tector believes that if Ireland Men can play their best cricket tomorrow in the final match of their three-day One-Day International (ODI) series they can beat England and tie the series.

Tector, 23, is currently sixth on the recently released ICC ODI batting rankings. He scored 39 in the second ODI at Headingley on Saturday, falling to an excellent catch by Will Jacks. 

If selected Harry will make his 40^th ODI appearance tomorrow in the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol, a ground he knows well after playing for Gloucestershire this summer in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.   

Looking back on Saturday’s game Harry says that Ireland needs to bat better:

“It was a weird game. The scoreline probably made it look closer than it was, but you know for Craig Young, Josh (Little), and Barry (McCarthy) to bat so well down the bottom end of the order was really encouraging for us, but ultimately we would have liked to have batted better and be in the game for a longer period of time and you know, hopefully, we can sort of right those wrongs tomorrow.

“I definitely think that if we play our best cricket, we can beat England tomorrow, and that's certainly the focus going into it.”  

As for his dismissal on Saturday, Harry said:

“To be fair, it was a great catch. I was trying to hit that for six and it just came off the toe of the bat and went a bit high in the air and it was a good catch in the end. Disappointing to get in, and then to get out, but that's the nature of cricket. You're going to play bad shots sometimes or miss execute, but hopefully, learn from it and try and go again.” 

Harry’s one-day average is 50.06. Only 13 players in the history of the game have got a better ODI average. How does he view those figures, and what does he put his ODI success down to:

“Those numbers are nice to hear, but I don't think that's everything in cricket. For me, the challenge I try and set myself is how can I put in match-winning performances, and obviously averaging 50 is great, but it's not the be-all and end-all. I'm just trying to get better as a cricketer, and to try and improve it and put in match-winning performances for Ireland.” 

“It’s just a case of hard work. When I made my debut in in 2020, I was only 20 years old, so I think you have a lot of scope to get better when you're young. I'm still only 23 now and still very hungry - hungry to improve and get better - and score lots of runs. I just try and be the best player I can be”. 

How much does he think local knowledge will be going into this third ODI: 

“I’ve only played two or three home games here, but I trained a lot here and loved my time in Bristol. So hopefully I can share a little bit of knowledge if the lads want it.”

 What has playing in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) done for your game:

“Any time you get a chance to go into a different environment in different conditions is going be wonderful for your game. You're going to be challenged, and exposed, and you get the opportunity to learn from some great players. I think that's the beauty of franchise cricket, so hopefully, something comes up in the new year to play cricket when we don't have as many Irish games and that would be brilliant.”