Rankin looking forward to 'special' England World Cup clash

Former Ireland and England fast bowler Boyd Rankin is looking forward to a "special" match against England on Wednesday morning at the T20 World Cup.

After shocking the West Indies to progress past the first round, Ireland were pitted in a group featuring Sri Lanka, England, Australia and New Zealand and Afghanistan.

Further progress was always going to be a huge ask for Heinrich Malan's side, and after falling to a nine-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka, a clash against neighbours England (Wednesday 5am) could be just what the team need to refocus.

"Any Ireland against England fixture is special," Boyd Rankin said. "I think it’s that connection of being so close to one another, old rivals, and there’s obviously a whole history between the two countries.

"It’s a special fixture to be a part of, and hopefully, we can put up a good show. They’re playing good T20I cricket right now, but we’ve shown in the past that we can beat them and there’s no reason why we can’t do so again this week.

"Perhaps not our younger players, but a few guys in our squad will have come up against these guys in county cricket quite regularly. There should be nothing to fear."

The 6’8" Bready man played for Ireland in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 - until last Friday, that was the last and only previous time that Ireland had progressed past the first round of this tournament.

Despite playing a behind-closed-doors warm-up match against Namibia at the MCG a few weeks ago, this will be the first time many of the Ireland squad will have played at the famous venue in a competitive match.

Rankin, who played in an ODI for England at the MCG in 2014, believes the ground has a special atmosphere which the players should enjoy.

"That game is a fond cricketing memory," he