Niall O'Brien wants to celebrate his 100th cap for Ireland by creating history and beating England on Tuesday.
Irishman hopes to lead side to famous win
Niall O'Brien wants to celebrate his 100th cap for Ireland by creating history and beating England on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old Dubliner will earn his 100th cap when leading the Irish out at the Guyana National Stadium in their ICC World Twenty20 final group game.
The Northamptonshire wicketkeeper wants to create history with a shock upset over England after his side's 70-run opening defeat to West Indies last Friday night.
He said: "A hundredth cap is going to be a very proud moment, leading the team out against England is obviously a very happy thought for me.
"I got injured in Jamaica and missed a game so it's actually worked out quite well that England's going to be my 100th cap.
"Hopefully I can put in a really special performance and create a bit of history and get a win against England, which would be fantastic."
Shock results
O'Brien has played his part in a few shock results in his 99 caps so far, most notably a man-of-the-match performance for Ireland in their victory over Pakistan in Jamaica at the 2007 World Cup when he top-scored with 72.
He added: "If you look back down the years, we've beaten Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in Stormont.
"We beat the West Indies in 2004 by six wickets and I got man of the match that day, the 2007 World Cup speaks for itself because both Pakistan and Bangladesh were great wins and we tied with Zimbabwe.
"We got to the Super Eights last year (in the World Twenty20) in England and beat Bangladesh, I got man of the match again, so hopefully there's a few more man of the match performances in me, and at this tournament."
The Irishman believes those victories can help his side on Tuesday.
"We know we can beat these teams and that's important to take that confidence into the game," he added.
No reason
"We've beaten big teams in the past so there's no reason why we can't do it again.
"We know we've got the personnel to compete with them over the 40 overs of the match and it's important to stay in there for as long as we can.
"Things change quickly in Twenty20 so it needs one or two people to put in a special performance and we'll get the victory.
"The Twenty20 gives the underdog much more of a chance.
"The longer the format the better sides should win out a lot more but Twenty20 cricket has already shown us beating teams, Holland beating England so there's upsets on the cards at this world cup.
"Playing England in any sport is massive with all the history. We've watched the rugby lads beat England now quite regularly and now we want to emulate that and get a win for the cricket team."
