Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan says he wants to see greater “clarity of conviction” from his side in their T20 World Cup meeting with Australia on Wednesday.
Ireland lost their tournament opener against Sri Lanka by 20 runs on Sunday but only after the co-hosts were able to add 59 to the target across the final four overs of their innings.
In contrast, Ireland lost their way in the latter overs, their last six wickets falling for the addition of just 23 runs.
“Yeah, the clarity of our conviction is probably the most important part there,” said Malan.
“I think we learned a little bit from the way that Sri Lanka went about their business in the back end.”
Ireland particularly struggled in the field in Colombo, including a damaging spell in the 17th over when three catches were dropped in the space of four Matthew Humphreys’ deliveries.
Malan added: “For a large part of that game we were playing exactly the sort of way we wanted to play from a planning [and] preparation point of view.
“Obviously a little bit of the execution throughout that critical period has let us down so we had to turn that around pretty quickly.”
Australia, who will be making their tournament bow at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, come in with concerns over form and fitness.
Fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood have both been ruled out through injury, the latter after having been named in the original 15-man squad.
Tim David remains in the panel but is viewed as unlikely to feature in the opening game for the side who have lost their past five T20 internationals including a record defeat in the format by Pakistan to conclude a 3-0 series whitewash.
“I think whatever Australian team rocks up will be a very competitive team,” said Malan.
“You obviously look at some of the names that are proven performers over the last couple of years.
“I think you look at our side, we’ve got some proven performers too, and it sets up to be an exciting challenge and one that we’re very much looking forward to.”
Ireland have faced Australia only once in the past decade, also at the T20 World Cup with the hosts winning by 42 runs at the Gabba in 2022.
What would have been a first bilateral series between the sides was cancelled because of budgetary concerns from Cricket Ireland in 2024.
“I think you always want to play the top sides in any format and obviously us not being able to host that series was very disappointing,” added Malan.
“We played them in the ’22 World Cup in Brisbane, obviously which was a great occasion, and we took a fair bit out of that game and hopefully we can apply some of those learnings in the game [on Wednesday].
“[We are] very clear around some of the plans that we’ve got in place for some of the Australian players and if we can adapt to the situation and the conditions quickly out there, hopefully the boys can execute their skills well.”
