COLOMBO: A depleted Australia shrugged off the loss of their captain Mitchell Marsh to injury to cruise to a dominant 67-run opening T20 World Cup win over Ireland in Colombo on Wednesday.

Australia made 182-6 after stand-in captain Travis Head won the toss and elected to bat and then bowled Ireland out for 115 at the R. Premadasa stadium.

Josh Inglis was promoted to open in place of Marsh and made 37 off 17 balls, while Marcus Stoinis top scored with 45. Matt Renshaw made 37.

Nathan Ellis, who had been nursing a hamstring injury in the run-up to the tournament, bowled brilliantly to take 4-12 while spinner Adam Zampa took 4-23 as Ireland were dismissed in 16.5 overs.

Ellis ripped through Ireland’s top order with two wickets in his first over and they were soon 27-4.

A 46-run sixth wicket stand between Lorcan Tucker and George Dockrell offered some resistance but they were never in the hunt in the face of some disciplined bowling.

Dockerell scored 41 off 29 balls before being stumped off Zampa.

Marsh was ruled out before the match after being struck in the groin during training on Tuesday.

Australia were quick to call up Steve Smith, who will fly to Sri Lanka on standby in case opener Marsh is unable to take any part in the tournament.

It is the latest injury blow to hit the Australia squad after leading pace bowlers Cummins and Hazlewood were forced out after failing to recover from injury in time for the month-long tournament.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

T. Head run out 6

J. Inglis c Stirling b Dockrell 37

C. Green c Dockrell b M. Adair 21

M. Renshaw b Humphreys 37

G. Maxwell c Tucker b Tector 9

M. Stoinis c Calitz b M. Adair 45

C. Connolly not out 11

X. Bartlett not out 11

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4) 5

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 182

DID NOT BAT: N. Ellis, A. Zampa, M. Kuhnemann

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (Head), 2-56 (Green), 3-69 (Inglis), 4-88 (Maxwell), 5-149 (Renshaw), 6-159 (Stoinis)

BOWLING: Humphreys 4-0-33-1 (1w), M. Adair 4-0-44-2 (1w), McCarthy 3-0-37-0(1w), Delany 2-0-12-0, Dockrell 4-0-31-1, Tector 3-0-24-1

IRELAND:

P. Stirling retired hurt 1

R. Adair b Ellis 12

H. Tector c Green b Kuhnemann 0

L. Tucker c Connolly b Zampa 24

C. Campher c Green b Ellis 4

B. Calitz b Ellis 2

G. Delany c Inglis b Zampa 11

G. Dockrell st Inglis b Zampa 41

M. Adair c Connolly b Zampa 12

B. McCarthy c Green b Ellis 2

M. Humphreys not out 3

EXTRAS (LB-3) 3

TOTAL (all out, 16.5 overs) 115

FALL OF WICKETS: 0-1 (Stirling), 1-13 (Tector), 2-13 (R. Adair), 3-17 (Campher), 4-27 (Calitz), 5-43 (Delany), 6-89 (Tucker), 7-110 (Dockrell), 8-111 (M. Adair), 9-115 (McCarthy)

BOWLING: Bartlett 2-0-22-0, Kuhnemann 4-0-29-1, Ellis 3.5-1-12-4, Zampa 4-0-23-4, Connolly 3-0-26-0

RESULT: Australia won by 67 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Nathan Ellis

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2026