Crawley's leisure centre may not figure on the list of the world’s great basketball arenas but for the Chicago Bulls’ British forward Luol Deng it was more than adequate as he launched his Great Britain international career in impressive fashion last night.

Deng was predictably electrifying as he made his official GB debut, scoring 26 points against a woefully outclassed Ireland side in an 87-59 friendly victory.

It was the first competitive basketball Deng has played in this country since embarking upon his college career with Duke in the United States five years ago and the 6’9” forward did not disappoint the 600 fans as he added 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.

“It was great,” said Deng who signed autographs on the court for 15 minutes after his debut. “I had been looking forward to this moment since I committed to the team and it was a lot of fun.”

Deng played twice in unofficial behind-closed-door friendlies against Georgia in France for Chris Finch’s team earlier this month before prior commitments forced him to leave the team last week.

However, he had little trouble re-acquainting himself with his team-mates, scoring nine points in the opening eight minutes as GB raced into a 27-8 lead which killed off the contest.

But the third period was when GB really showed their full potential, outscoring the Irish 25-4 and holding them scoreless for all but the final 100 seconds of the period. “This is a really close team,” said Deng.

“That showed you how good we can be and the more we play together, the better we are going to get.”

Finch also enjoyed dominant displays from Richard Midgley (12 points) and skipper Andrew Sullivan (11) and had the added bonus of seeing former NBA Scot Robert Archibald return from ankle injury ahead of schedule.

Finch said: “Luol was great. We’re just trying to work him into the team but we played him in every position tonight which shows his versatility and class.

“As long as he continues to make early decisions for his team mates, and doesn’t try and force things, then he is going to unlock a lot of teams for us.”

Tickets are still available as GB face Ireland again in Crawley tonight before opening the European qualifiers against Slovakia in Birmingham on Tuesday.

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