Ireland vs Sri Lanka

Ireland made a losing start to their Super 12 campaign at the T20 World Cup as Kusal Mendis steered Sri Lanka to a comfortable victory in Hobart.

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Sri Lanka (133-1, 15 overs) (Kusal Mendis 68; Gareth Delany 1-28) beat Ireland (128-8, 20 overs) (Harry Tector 45; Maheesh Theekshana 2-19) by nine wickets.

Chasing just 129, Sri Lanka got off to a flying start, Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva combining for six early boundaries in an opening partnership of 63 that killed off Irish hopes of an unlikely win. I think if I had my time again I might have just had a look at a ball, but it’s an option that’s worked for me in the past and I’ll continue to try it, Lorcan will be the same. After the former found four boundaries in the powerplay, the highlight a gorgeous cut over point, he departed in ninth in strange circumstances. “I wouldn’t say it was a sticky wicket, I don’t want that to be the headline,” said Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie. You get to this stage of any competition you’re going to be playing world-class spinners, seam bowlers, batters, that’s just the way it is.” The answer more likely lies in the vagaries of cricket’s shortest format.

Ireland succumbed to a nine-wicket defeat in their opening Super 12 game against Sri Lanka in the 2022 T20 World Cup.

The next six overs contained just two boundaries, with Delany nicking off Dhananjaya to give a much-needed breakthrough. Ireland began tightly in the chase, Josh Little - in his 50th T20I - and Mark Adair conceding just over a run a ball in the first two overs, but boundaries flowed regularly through the remainder of the powerplay. Winning the toss and choosing to bat, Ireland was forced to battle throughout their innings by a strong Sri Lankan bowling unit.

Follow Sri Lanka vs Ireland, 15th Match, Super 12 Group 1, Oct 23, ICC Mens T20 WC 2022 with live Cricket score, ball by ball commentary updates on ...

13.6 Joshua Little to Asalanka, FOUR, 17off the over and the end is near for Ireland. 14.4 Simi Singh to Kusal Mendis, 2 runs, deft and a couple. Was the legbreak tried by Simi Singh and it went totally wrong Mendis and DDS set Sri Lanka on their way and after the latter fell, Asalanka came out and finished it off with Mendis in 15 overs. 14.1 Simi Singh to Kusal Mendis, SIX, what a horrible drag-down this. Lots of Sri Lankans in the crowd in Hobart and the Papare band is in full flow as their team delight them with a superb performance. A lot of us wouldn't have played at that venue ( at the MCG), one of the biggest in the world, a great city and we'll look to enjoy the pressure. I was just told to play the first 6 overs and then continue, the aim basically was to last 10 overs, but we were chasing a low score. When the Irish batted, they struggled to get the ball away and Mendis came out and showed how it has to be done. Player of the Match - The bowlers did really well to limit them to a low score and I just played my game. We knew spin would play a major role, we knew they'd like pace, so we kept a lot of spin for the back-end. Sri Lanka captain - Really happy with the way we've played the game, we set out to do some things and did well.

Scoreboard after Sri Lanka's victory over Ireland in their Group 1 Super 12 game at the Twenty20 World Cup in Hobart on Sunday:

Kumara, B. Bandara, B. Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Balbirnie), 2-26 (Tucker), 3-55 (Stirling), 4-60 (Campher), 5-107 (Dockrell), 6-117 (Tector), 7-117 (Delany), 8-118 (Adair)