Despite losing skipper Mitchell Marsh to injury, a diminished Australia easily defeated Ireland by 67 runs in their opening T20 World Cup match at the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Wednesday.
Australia made 182-6 after stand-in captain Travis Head won the toss, chose to bat, and then bowled Ireland out for 115. Marcus Stoinis top scored with 45, while Josh Inglis, who was promoted to open in place of Marsh, hit 37 off 17 balls. Matt Renshaw scored 37.
As Ireland were dismissed in 16.5 overs, spinner Adam Zampa took 4-23 and bowler Nathan Ellis, who had been recovering from a hamstring injury in the lead-up to the event, bowled wonderfully to take 4-12. The absence of pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who have both missed the competition due to injury, was compensated for by Ellis’s unconventional motion and deft change of pace.
With two wickets in his opening over, he tore through Ireland’s top order, bringing them down to 27-4. Despite some resistance from a 46-run sixth wicket partnership between Lorcan Tucker and George Dockrell, they were never in the hunt in front of a disciplined bowling attack. Dockerell was stumped off Zampa after scoring 41 off 29 balls.
After getting hit in the groin during Tuesday’s training, Marsh was declared out before the game. Steve Smith was quickly called up by Australia and will travel to Sri Lanka as a backup in case opener Marsh is unable to participate in the competition.
Despite his explosive Big Bash League success this season as an opening batsman, Smith—Australia’s top performer against spin—was controversially left out of the original squad.
