T20 World Cup: Ireland's Tucker says team in good mental state, will continue to play aggressive cricket

Melbourne, Oct 10 (IANS) Ireland men's cricket team wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker credits new head coach Heinrich Malan as a 'breath of fresh air' for a team on the rise and claimed they are confident of a good performance in the upcoming T20 World Cup."Heinrich (Malan) has been a breath of fresh air. He's challenged us to think differently and to apply different methods to achieve the desired results. It's no coincidence that the team is in such a strong mental state going into this tournament," Malan said after Ireland held their first training session in Melbourne on Monday ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup later this month."On a personal level, he's always trying to get the best out of every individual and I've felt a renewed sense of self-confidence in the last few months," Tucker said about Malan's influence on the team.Tucker, 26, made his T20I debut in 2016 against Hong Kong and has played 42 T20Is. He has struck four T20I half-centuries, with the highest score of 84 v USA. All of his half-centuries have come since he moved up the batting order to number three.Speaking about the recent home season back in Ireland, Tucker said it was quite interesting and the team will continue its new aggressive approach to the game, introduced under Malan."It was an interesting summer at home in the sense that we felt we played very well, but without too much to show for it. I think the main thing to take from it was that we now know that we are at the right level. "Previously, it might have felt that we knew we were chasing down those bigger teams and not quite with them, but we can take great confidence from this summer's performances. It feels like we've got the attributes to win and it's only a matter of time before that starts happening regularly," he said during a media interaction on Monday.Despite close matches against India and New Zealand, Ireland finally scored a morale-boosting series win over Afghanistan in August:"We've had some great battles against Afghanistan, but I think this one was esty, crop diversity, clean city, water management, women empowerment, waste management, digital India, clean energy, climate change and so on to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs).Teams from 18 urban and rural schools across India showcased the use of geo-spatial information and technology in understanding local issues and its use in planning and implementing at a special event titled 'Geo-enabling the global village with Generation Z and Alpha' of the Second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress on Monday (UNWGIC).Efforts in mapping chemical fertilizer use in farms, as well as their production against organic fertilizer usage along with their production, were showcased. Students also highlighted initiatives of mapping rural bio-diversity loss over time, as well as mapping of local recyclable products to source them effectively and increase their usage.The young teams focused on SDGs of zero hunger, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, and life on land. The event could show the way to localize the implementation of the SDGs through geospatial thinking.In his address, Stefan Schweinfest, Director UN Statistics Division, said that SDGs are not just a document but it is a proper action plan to engage with each other, work together and bring solutions for a better world. "All the projects are truly incredible and great examples for localising the SDGs. Rather than competition, the purpose of this session is to interact with each other, make friends and discuss how to take the ideas forward in the future so that you can be a UN representative for SDGs," he added.Dr. Subha Pandey, Scientist, Department of Science and Technology (DST), who chaired the session, elaborated on the DSTs activities and emphasized on geospatial technology use at school and community levels to localize SDGs.
--IANS kvm/pgh

(Disclaimer: This post has been auto published from IANS news agency without any modification to the text and has not been reviewed by editor)