T20 World Cup – Aus vs Ire preview – Undermanned Australia get campaign going against dangerous Ireland

Ravi Singh

4 hours ago

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Big picture – 13 to choose from for Australia

Australia are the last side to begin their T20 World Cup campaign and the late start plays heavily into their favour, given the injury issues they have had coming into the tournament.

They are already without Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood after both were ruled out with injury, and Australia’s selectors have intriguingly not yet replaced Hazlewood in the 15 and will only have 13 to choose from for their opening match against Ireland with Tim David expected to miss the opening round as he continues to rehab his hamstring injury.

Had the first match been any earlier, there may have also been doubts on Nathan Ellis coming off a hamstring concern and Adam Zampa, who experienced some groin tightness in the last T20I of the tour of Pakistan a fortnight ago, which Australia lost 3-0.

Australia are also struggling for form, having been hammered in Pakistan despite many of them coming from the BBL. However Ellis, David and Glenn Maxwell were all absent from that trip while many of the World Cup squad only played one or two games in the series at most. The change in conditions will challenge them, as will Ireland’s spinners George Dockrell and Gareth Delany after both bowled well against Sri Lanka.

Ireland themselves will feel under some pressure after butchering a chance to beat Sri Lanka in Colombo in their tournament opener. They dropped seven catches and gave up 59 runs from their final four overs with the ball. They were 105 for 2, albeit with the required run-rate climbing, but lost 8 for 38 to lose the game by 20 runs.

In theory, Ireland have the advantage of being a slightly unknown quantity to Australia. The two teams have only met twice in T20Is and only once in all international cricket since 2016. They played at the Gabba in the 2022 T20 World Cup and eight of the Ireland XI that played against Sri Lanka played in that game too. However, Australia may only have four players in their XI who played four years ago, with a number of retirements and injuries changing the formation of Australia’s team.

The only other time the two teams met in the shortest format was in the 2012 T20 World Cup in Colombo. Paul Stirling, Dockrell and Maxwell all played in that game.

Form guide

Australia LLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Ireland LWWLW

In the spotlight: Glenn Maxwell and Paul Stirling

Can Glenn Maxwell go to the well one more time to produce a stunning World Cup for his nation? Given he turns 38 this year, it seems unlikely that he will play another one for Australia, having already retired from ODI cricket. But since a match-winning 62 not out against South Africa last August, he has had a very lean run in all T20s. In eight innings in the BBL when he got past 3 he remained unbeaten, but that only happened three times with a highest score of 39 not out. His bowling will also be vital in the tournament as he will likely be the lone spinning allrounder in the top seven for most of the event.

Ireland need skipper Paul Stirling to set the tone at the top of the order, particularly against an inexperienced new-ball attack for Australia. His returns have also been lean in recent times with scores of 21, 29, 38, 0, 23, 45, 8, 14, and 6 in his last nine T20Is, striking at just 125.17. His 6 off 13 against Sri Lanka was not the start to the tournament he or Ireland were hoping for.

Team news: Zampa and Kuhnemann in tandem?

Australia appear set to play two specialist spinners in Matt Kuhnemann and Zampa. It will mean one of Xavier Bartlett and Ben Dwarshuis will miss out. There is another option Australia could take with Cooper Connolly playing at No. 8 to lengthen the batting, but that appears unlikely based on form. David’s absence will likely give Matt Renshaw a chance in the middle order. The combination of the top seven is likely to be fluid with the potential of elevating Maxwell early against spin.

Australia (probable): 1 Travis Head, 2 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 3 Cameron Green, 4 Josh Inglis (wk), 5 Matt Renshaw, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Xavier Bartlett/Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Matt Kuhnemann, 11 Adam Zampa

There could be a temptation to bring in left-arm seamer Josh Little, who bowled very well against Australia four years ago, but he has gone wicketless in his last four T20Is. Ireland will more than likely remain unchanged given catching was the major issue against Sri Lanka.

Ireland (probable): 1 Paul Stirling (capt), 2 Ross Adair, 3 Harry Tector, 4 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 5 Curtis Campher, 6 Ben Calitz, 7 George Dockrell, 8 Gareth Delany, 9 Mark Adair, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Matthew Humphreys

Pitch and conditions

The weather looks pretty clear and there’s no threat of rain. The Premadasa Stadium surface was slow and took spin in the opening game between Sri Lanka and Ireland. Sri Lanka’s win batting first broke a streak of eight straight T20Is at the venue won by the chasing team, dating back to 2021.

Stats and trivia

Ireland have never beaten Australia in six completed limited-overs internationals. Stirling has played in all six.
Australia will field the least experienced attack of the last four T20 World Cups, which also includes a successful campaign in 2021.
Australia are without one of Steven Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc for the first time in an ICC tournament since the 2009 Champions Trophy.

Quotes

“There have been some great games to start the World Cup. That’s what you want. It’s been awesome to watch so far.”
Mitchell Marsh on watching the start of the World Cup

“I think first and foremost, just the heat, just walked out there to go and have a look at the wicket and it was really, really warm. So there’ll be a challenge in that space a lot, there’ll be people that sweat more than what they would have done the other night. But look, at the end of the day, you know, we’ve got to adapt to conditions.”
Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan on adapting to the conditions when playing a day game

Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

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