T20 World Cup: Ellis, Zampa Give Australia Big Win Over Ireland

A day before Ireland’s match against Australia, the former’s head coach Heinrich Malan was asked how he fancied his team’s chances against the 2021 T20 World Cup winners. “Whenever an Australian team rocks up, it’ll be a very competitive team,” he said. “You look at our side, we’ve got some proven performers too, and it sets up to be an exciting challenge.”

He may have been offering his opponents the due courtesy, but he wasn’t writing off his team’s chances either. No inch given. Fifteen minutes before toss, he would have probably chalked up one more positive for his side. Australia’s captain Mitchell Marsh, who had hurt himself during training earlier this week, was pulling out of the match. This meant Australia who are anyway without many of their first-choice players in this tournament were now effectively selecting from just 12 players. (Josh Hazlewood, who is officially out of the tournament, is yet to be officially replaced in the squad, Tim David being held back for the Zimbabwe game on Friday after recovering from a hamstring injury, and while Sean Abbott is with the squad, he is part of the travelling reserve and not officially a member of the squad yet.)

This long list of injuries and the many new names in the squad have meant that while the team still commands respect, it has none of the aura of past Australian teams. In a tournament where minnows have so far run established teams close, there was always going to be an interest in whether Ireland could expose a depleted Australia. And it certainly seemed it may go that way, when the star batsman and stand-in captain Travis Head, after electing to bat, got run out early in the second over. But from then on, Australia put on an absolutely clinical performance on a pitch that was slow and gripping. The stand out was a partnership of 49 between Josh Inglis and Cameron Green, before Matt Renshaw and Marcus Stoinis came together to strike 61 runs off 44 balls. The pitch made it difficult for batters to strike the ball cleanly, especially against spinners who got the ball to grip off the surface. But Australia still managed to set an imposing score of 182, revealing a side of batting that was not all about blasting sixes. The target proved too large for Ireland, who eventually folded up for 115. Australia’s bowling sheet might look a bit lightweight, given the absence of its fierce pace trio Pat Cummins, Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, but at least on this night, their replacements looked effective. The fast-medium Nathan Ellis and the leg spinner Adam Zampa in particular put in a sharp bowling performance, with Ellis picking his best T20I figures of 4 for 12.

Australia may not have been the big favourites entering this tournament. But with this clinical performance, they showed why they should be taken just as seriously as their past teams.

Brief scores:

Australia 182 for 6 (Stoinis 45, Mark Adair 2-44) beat Ireland 115 (Dockrell 41, Ellis 4-12) by 67 runs