Birrell wary of 'angry' Ireland

Saving the rhino, buying fairtrade coffee, recycling. We are attracted to these socially conscious ideas because we know they will make for a better, stronger community in future. That is also why cricket fans are fighting for Associate inclusion in the World Cup, but long before the latest campaign became fashionable there were plenty who knew the value of openness and one of them will be reunited with his former charges in Canberra.

Adrian Birrell, South Africa's assistant coach was in charge of Ireland from 2002 to 2007, when he oversaw their headline grabbing run at the Caribbean tournament, and believes Ireland have earned the right to play more regularly."

"It's definitely not fair. How many one-off games do they have? Not many. Between World Cups, they don't play Full Member countries often. They need to play more," Birrell said. "But we play a lot. It's a full schedule. Can we play more? It's quite tricky."

That's why Birrell believes Ireland always have a point to prove when they play a World Cup game, no matter where they are positioned in the group or how other results have gone. "If you look at their record, they've continued to knock down the door and they keep on getting shut out. So they are angry and I understand that. That's a driving factor and something which makes them play even harder to prove the Full Member teams wrong."

So South Africa need to be careful and Birrell has already identified Ireland's batting line-up as the major threat. "They bat deep and they know how to chase targets. Four out of the top 10 World Cup chases are Ireland chases, three of them over 300 and two of them against Full Member teams. We're fully aware of what they can do. I'm probably more aware than most, so we'll be prepared."

South Africa will approach Ireland as they have been done every other team at this World Cup - with circumspection initially and acceleration later on. "It's a matter of us coming in and making sure we have a solid start," Birrell said. "If we play a structured start like we did against West Indies, we should be okay."

Birrell had coached Ireland to wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh, and a tie with Zimbabwe in 2007. He has seen them beat England in 2011 and West Indies this time. Although he would not want South Africa to be counted among that category, he does take some pride in Ireland's progress.

"When I started, there were probably one or two professionals," Birrell said. "The rest were club players not earning their living from cricket. But since around 2005, a lot of their players have been county players, playing professionally. What I am surprised about is how much progress there has been in the administration and coaching structures. They've made great strides in looking after their grassroots and club cricket and making sure that the future Irish players will continue to come through."

Although the ICC have reduced the timescale for players to return to an Associate country if they opt to play Test cricket to two years, Birrell believes more could be done.

"It's difficult for them - they continue losing their players to England. Look at Boyd Rankin, who played a couple of matches and now doesn't play in a World Cup for either Ireland or England when he should be playing for Ireland. Because he's played a couple of matches for England, it discounts him [unless he opts to re-qualify]. That's hurtful. Maybe there are others to follow, others who are picked for England."

But he acknowledged that Ireland have forged their own identity which has so far allowed them to stay vibrant as cricketing entity. "They've got a strong culture, the play an attractive brand of cricket and they've got a number of good players. They punch above their weight."