Stirling’s availability for the rest of the World Cup is not known, but he is understood to have had a scan on Wednesday night.
He had hurt his right knee leaping high to his right to take a catch off Josh Inglis in the seventh over of Australia’s innings, but he had come out to bat in his usual position as opener for the start of the chase. When he tried to take his first single, however, Stirling clearly struggled, limping to the non-strikers’ end.
At that point, he decided to retire hurt and did not later return to the middle. Ireland were all out for 115 chasing 183.
“It doesn’t look great,” Wilson said. “He went for a scan this evening, so we’ll have to wait for confirmation.
“He thought he was OK when he went out there to bat. He wasn’t going to go out if he didn’t think he was right. He was trying to maximise the Powerplay, basically. He was trying to take off for a single, but clearly the knee seized up even more.”
Although Ireland have lost their opening matches to Sri Lanka and Australia – both at Khettarama – they still have a statistical chance of making the Super Eights. Ireland’s next match is against Oman on Saturday, at the SSC, before they travel to Kandy to play Nambia at Pallekele on Tuesday.
