History on their side as Ireland chase maiden T20WC win

The time is now for Ireland to break their ICC Women's T20 World Cup hoodoo.

Their record at the tournament now spans 20 matches after their agonisingly close four-run loss to reigning champs New Zealand - their third defeat at this World Cup.

Matching it with the heavily-favoured Kiwis will no doubt give the Irish newfound belief that they have what it takes to put this piece of unwanted history to bed, once and for all.

But more than just that, Ireland can also lean on past results against next opponent Sri Lanka to gain even more optimism of tasting T20 World Cup victory for the first time.

Ireland claimed a 2-1 bilateral series win over Sri Lanka in 2024 in 50-over cricket, while also splitting their T20Is 1-1 on the same Ireland-based tour. In the T20I that Ireland won by seven runs, now-captain Gaby Lewis smashed 119 off 75 balls in their side's seven-run win over Sri Lanka.

Star Leah Paul understands how big this opportunity is.

“Sri Lanka is a team that we have had success against in the last few years and it’s a team we know relatively well," she told media.

"If we can keep progressing in the areas we want to improve on from the last couple of game we believe we can put in a good performance and get our first-ever World Cup win. We’ve definitely picked up a good few learnings, especially after the games against England and New Zealand. In the batting department, we want to build those partnerships in the middle period and then trying to contain with the ball in the middle overs.

“We pride ourselves on our resilience so hopefully we can stick together and have each other’s backs for the last two games.“

Sri Lanka will be hungry to bounce back after suffering a demoralising loss to the West Indies which severly hurt their chances of progressing to the knockout stages.

“We'll get over the disappointment of the West Indies quickly and turn our attention to Ireland. It's a massive game for us," said Sri Lanka coach Jamie Siddons.

“We cannot roll over in that game. We need to put our best team on the park. We need to play really well and get a win in that game and then prepare really well for Scotland because they're a great team.”

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