Ireland fall short in ICC T20 World Cup warm-up against Namibia

Ireland suffered an 11-run loss to Namibia in their first warm-up match ahead of the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

Heinrich Malan's side kept their opponents restricted to 138-4 but fell short of that target in the fixture at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Ireland's tournament preparations at their New South Wales base had already been hampered by the local weather conditions in recent days, and were further impacted by the late withdrawal of Andrew Balbirnie due to illness ahead of the Namibia match, although he is slated for a return to action against Sri Lanka on Thursday at Melbourne's Junction Oval in the side's final warm-up.

Barry McCarthy, Gareth Delany, Simi Singh and Curtis Campher claimed the four wickets against the Namibians in the backdrop of the behind-closed-doors contest at the MCG, but in the end the Irish side were bowled out for a total of 127.

Ireland will begin their World Cup campaign against Zimbabwe on 17 October in Hobart, before further Group B games against Scotland and the West Indies in the Tasmanian city.

Namibia 138-4 (20 overs; Gerhard Erasmus 34, Jan Frylinck 26; Gareth Delany 1-11)

Ireland 127 (19.5 overs; Paul Stirling 37, Lorcan Tucker 34; Ben Shikongo 3-11)