Belfast, Aug 15 (IANS): Ireland all-rounder Gareth Delany has credited his improved spin bowling show to new spin bowling coach Nathan Hauritz, saying the former Australia player has asked for the spinners to be braver while bowling in the middle overs.

Delany has played 13 ODIs and 47 T20Is for Ireland since his international debut in July 2019. But it has been his improved show with the ball that has stood out in Ireland's home summer and made him an integral part of the bowling attack, picking seven wickets in his last five matches at an average of 19.14 and economy rate of 7.05.

"Scott Irvine (Performance Analyst) provides us with some good insight into their strengths and weaknesses and then as a spin unit we've been having very good discussions in coming up with game plans for each of the opposition players. I've also felt that I've regained confidence in my bowling which has helped massively too."

"While he hasn't been with us long so far, it's been great to have Nathan Hauritz join the squad -- he's settling in very quickly and we've had some very insightful chats with him as a spin unit so far. His main message going forward is that he wants us to be more courageous and to take the game forward in the middle overs -- to look to take wickets and don't be too afraid about going for runs."

"It definitely helps having someone like Nathan who's played to the highest level and has a wealth of information about spin bowling so I think we're all very excited about getting to work with him and see where things go," said Delany ahead of the fourth T20I against Afghanistan.

Ireland are currently leading the five-match series 2-1. But Delany saw a bright side from the 22-run loss for the hosts' in the third T20I, saying the lower-order contributions from George Dockrell (58 not out) and Fionn Hand (36 not out) will give them belief to fightback in coming matches.

"We're obviously disappointed having not got over the line the other day, but we knew how tough it was going to be against these guys. Looking back, we probably could have restricted them a little more but with the power and talent in their batting line up it's going to be very hard to keep them in check like we have the first two games."

"I think we've all taken confidence from the fight, though, and the two knocks in particular from George Dockrell and Fionn Hand who never gave up and kept us in the contest to the end. It's the way we've decided we're going to play and there will be days where the top order don't fire but they got us over the line fairly comfortably the first two and there's that belief that guys lower down the order will put in big performances."