Australia begin T20 World Cup with strong win over Ireland
Australia began their 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign in Colombo with a dominant 67-run win over Ireland in their Group B opener, showing both batting depth and bowling firepower despite an injury setback before the match.
Australia was a heavy favourite with cricket betting sites to beat minnow Ireland, but they did not have it all their own way, with stand-in skipper Travis Head run out for six and his team slumping to 4-88, after opting to bat first.
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Head won the toss and Australia’s innings was built around lively contributions from Josh Inglis (37 from 17 balls), Marcus Stoinis (45 off 29) and Matt Renshaw (37 off 33), with late cameos from Cooper Connolly and Xavier Bartlett helping lift the total to 182 for 6.
The Irish chase never truly got going, slipping to 115 all out as Nathan Ellis produced a career-best 4-12 and Adam Zampa backed him up with 4-23 to share eight wickets between them.
Betting sites had fancied Australia to win their opener and remained confident in the side’s prospects overall, with Sportsbet listing Australia around 6.00 in outright markets at the start of the tournament despite their mixed form and the absence of captain Mitch Marsh through injury.
With this first-up win placing them well atop Group B, Australia are now set to face Zimbabwe in their next match in Colombo on Friday. Australia is priced at 1.08 to defeat Zimbawe (7.50) and get their World Cup off to the perfect start.
