James McCollum eager to make most of Ireland opportunity

Ireland will play four ODI’s against the UAE, starting with tomorrow’s opener before a further three against Afghanistan, which will be part of the World Cup Super League and their journey towards potential qualification for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

Northern Knights star McCollum last turned out for his country when he scored 20 in a five-wicket defeat to the West Indies on January 12 and watched on from the sideline as Ireland played England in a three-game ODI series during the summer.

The 25-year-old ended the 2020 season in fine form, scoring 79* for the Knights in a Twenty20 win over the North West Warriors and followed it up with another half-century against Leinster Lightning while also helping Waringstown reach the Robinson Services Cup final.

“I feel like I have been in and around it but not playing much cricket which is frustrating but hopefully I can get an opportunity over here,” he said.

“It is a long tour so hopefully I can get a game and take that chance to cement my place in the team.

“It’s really tough because we haven’t been playing much cricket.

“We played five Inter-Pro games over the summer so it’s tough when you aren’t in the starting XI but don’t have a way of forcing yourself in because there has been a lack of cricket.

“It has been frustrating and I feel like I have trained a lot over the last year without playing that many games.

“Club cricket was great for that last season and I thought the Twenty20 competition was really good. I played a lot of club cricket and really enjoyed playing again.”

The change in McCollum’s game were clear to see last season as he adopted a more aggressive approach and that could be vital to earning his place back in the Irish side.

“From my perspective, I’ve had to make the transition from being a purely red ball player into a white ball player over the last couple of years,” he added.

“There has been ups and down but if there has been a criticism of my batting in white ball cricket it’s that I have to be more aggressive and be able to put more pressure on the bowler.

“A lot of that training over the past year has been focused on taking the game to the bowler and having more options in white ball cricket.

“It was nice to be able to get out into the middle and execute a few of those plans and show those improvements.

“We need more games now just to make that sort of transition a bit easier,” added McCollum.

“You can do as much as you want in training but you always want to get out there and show it in a game.”

McCollum made his international debut against Afghanistan in February 2019 and is expecting another tough series against their familiar foes when it gets underway on January 21.

“It’s a really big tour,” he said.

“Their batsmen are really attacking and they have two or three of the best bowlers in the world, so we know it’s going to be tough but we play a lot of cricket against them so the guys are pretty well accustomed and know what to expect.

“Hopefully we can get a good series win under our belt and grind a few wins out.”

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