ICC Men’s T20 WC 2026 | Match 14: Australia vs Ireland | Preview and Prediction

Pre-tournament favourites Australia will open their campaign against an Ireland side looking to make amends after giving a good account of themselves in their first game, despite losing it, in a fascinating Match 14 of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the game.

ICC Men’s T20 WC 2026 | Match 14: Australia vs Ireland | 15:00, 11 February

While Australia are no doubt one of the favourites to win the tournament, they have been stung massively with two huge injury blows, with both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood ruled out of the tournament. With Mitchell Starc also retired from the shortest format, this will be the first time in over ten years that none of the fast-bowling trio will play an ICC tournament match together. 

Australia’s recent form in the format has not exactly been setting the world alight either. Series losses to India and Pakistan have put a little bit of a dampener on things, though most of the players are pretty well-prepared for the tournament thanks to the recently concluded Big Bash League season.

The batting department is arguably the most stacked and devastating as it has been for the Aussies. Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh have been a devastating opening pair in recent times, with the left-right combination dismantling opposition bowling attacks to shreds. Matt Renshaw and Cooper Connolly have been BBL mainstays, with Renshaw having had a very impressive campaign with the Brisbane Heat. Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis bring a wealth of experience, while Tim David is the brutish finisher who has terrorised bowlers around the world, and despite his injury concern, he is fit and raring to go.

It is the bowling that seems to be a little thin for Australia — not only in terms of experience, but in terms of quality as well, which is evident given that both Cummins and Hazlewood are out. While Adam Zampa is an excellent spinner and can turn matches by himself, the bowlers around him will have to pull their socks up big time. Xavier Bartlett, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, and Matt Kuhnemann will have to be at their best every game, because the margin for error will be close to unforgivable.

Their opponents, on the other hand, will approach this game knowing that they could have, and arguably should have, done better against Sri Lanka after restricting them to an eminently chaseable total.

At 105/2, chasing 163, it felt that the Irish had placed themselves in a rather splendid position to make that final lunge and inflict a damaging defeat on the co-hosts. Lorcan Tucker and Harry Tector were going along beautifully, and it felt like Ireland were in the driving seat to snatch the win.

But this is where their lack of experience did them in. Tucker and Tector fell in quick succession, and the rest of the batters came and went as the Sri Lankan spinners put the clamps on them. Ultimately, Ireland were bowled out for 143 and fell short by 20 runs. Skipper Paul Stirling believed that the lack of experience in the side was a crucial factor in the contest getting away from them, but he would have taken a look at the rest of the batting order as well as his own cheap dismissal, knowing that the team put an added layer of pressure on themselves.

The Ireland spinners were pretty effective and efficient against Sri Lanka, with veteran George Dockrell being the most economical of the lot. His nous and experience will be very handy once again, as he will look to mitigate the early onslaught of the belligerent Australian openers.

The last time these two sides met in the Men’s T20 World Cup was in Brisbane in 2022, where Australia emerged comfortable victors, beating Ireland by a margin of 42 runs. Overall, Australia enjoy a 2–0 lead in their head-to-head record against Ireland in T20 World Cup matches.

While Ireland possess the players who have the skill and quality to pack a pretty powerful punch and unnerve even the best of oppositions, this Australian side looks to be a step too far for them given the sheer power and quality of their batting depth.

We believe that Australia are the overwhelming favourites to win this contest.

Fantasy XI: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tector, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, George Dockrell, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa

Venue: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Winners Prediction: Australia