Mark Adair: Wary of Zimbabwe challenge. Photo: Sportsfile
The first leg of Ireland’s improbable route to the last eight of the T20 World Cup was completed in Kandy today when Sri Lanka chased down an Australian total of 181 with two overs to spare.
The Boys in Green are hanging in there and if they can somehow defeat Zimbabwe convincingly at the same Pallekele stadium tomorrow then the flight home will be delayed by a few days at least, perhaps longer.
Ireland must win to stay in the tournament and hope that Sri Lanka complete a clean sweep of Group B by beating Zimbabwe on Thursday, in which case the runners-up spot will be decided on nett run-rate.
Australia would appear to have a ‘Get-out-of-jail-free card’ when they play whipping boys Oman on Friday, but if that game is rained off Ireland still have a chance.
All the permutations will count for nothing, though, if Ireland lose against a side that has been victorious in both their games and seem to get the better of the Boys in Green when all-rounder Ryan Burl is in their line-up.
Mark Adair, who played his 100th T20 international against Oman on Saturday, is wary of the threat from Zimbabwe’s attack, particularly Blessing Murarabani who took a match-winning 4-17 against Australia.
“I’ve played with Blessing and against him for a long time, and big Ritchie Ngavara as well,” Adair said. “Zimbabwe are really starting to round out their attack, and they’re probably as good of a bowling line-up as you’ll find in this tournament, so it’ll definitely be a challenge for our batters.
“They’re a good batting team too, and they have that little bit of explosiveness towards the back end of an innings, but the game is something that we’re looking forward to.
“We’ve played a lot against them. There should be no surprises for us.”