England captain Jos Buttler said they have “great respect” for Ireland and there is no question of complacency creeping in during Wednesday’s Super 12 match at the T20 World Cup.

Ireland, who famously beat England in a 2011 ODI World Cup match in Bangalore, eliminated twice winners West Indies to make the second round for the first time since 2009.

England began their quest for a second T20 World Cup crown with a clinical victory against Afghanistan and Buttler said they would not hold anything back against Ireland. “Anytime you take things for granted or you don’t respect the opposition is when you can get hurt,” the opener told a news conference on Tuesday.

“I think in T20 cricket especially, there’s the one format where it’s as level a playing field as any. We give them great respect. We expect a really tough game.”

Buttler said there would be a “natural rivalry” on the pitch between the two sides.

“I think anytime we play sort of nations close to home, that brings natural rivalry. It brings some history of certain things into the game,” he added.

Ireland coach Heinrich Malan said they were looking forward to the contest.

“We haven’t played them in white ball cricket for a long period of time, so it’ll be a nice challenge,” the South African said, adding that they were looking for ways to curb England’s explosive batting order.

“Hopefully our bowlers can go out there and be clear in their own preparation.

“They’ve all got their own strengths, and if they can play towards them and be clear around that, hopefully they execute well, then we can be on the good end of it.”

Buttler said his side will be ready to adapt if rain interrupts proceedings. “You have a little idea of things you might do if those kinds of things happen,” he said. “But again, don’t want to get too sort of preoccupied with what-ifs.

“When a situation arises, let’s try and adapt as fast as we can.”

‘Challenge’ for Ireland

Calcutta: Ireland coach Heinrich Malan is confident of their chances against England on Wednesday.

“Look, it’s a nice challenge for us, and we’re really excited. I think I saw a stat this morning (Tuesday), we haven’t played them in white ball cricket for a long period of time, so it’ll be a nice challenge,” Malan said on the eve of their match in Melbourne.

“We know that they’ve got a couple of skill sets that’ll be challenging, but I also think the way we’ve played over a period of time we’ve shown that we’ve got a couple of guys who have put their names in limelight... hopefully we can come out tomorrow night firing.

“We’ve shown over periods of time... that we can execute certain plans, and we’ve done some real work.”

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