Ireland ready to roll at T20 World Cup - Paul Stirling

Ireland's record runs-scorer Paul Stirling says the team are "ready" as they prepare for their opening game of the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia on Monday.

The team has now arrived in Tasmanian capital Hobart ahead of the short-form showpiece and vice-captain Stirling said: "There's no doubt that we would’ve liked to have played a few more warm-up games, but the lads have had some very good sessions in the nets or indoors.

"We still have a couple of training sessions in Hobart between now and the first game to fine-tune a few skills, but we feel ready for Monday’s first game against Zimbabwe.

"Playing at the MCG the other night [against Nambibia] was a great experience for the squad - I haven’t played there before myself, and it has just given that little bit extra motivation to the lads as they now want to get back there and play in front of a crowd at what is one of the world’s iconic cricket grounds.

"Hobart holds fond memories for those of us in the squad who played at the 2015 World Cup, the win against West Indies has gone down in Irish cricket history as one of those legendary wins and I know it inspired many kids back home to take up the sport - which is one thing we want to achieve as a squad.

"We're now getting down to the pointy end, and now just looking forward to getting the competitive action underway."

Stirling, 32, made his international debut in 2008 and has 340 caps for Ireland. He has scored 3,011 runs in 114 T20Is and is the world's sixth-highest run-scorer in this format.

Ireland Men will train at Kingston Twin Ovals tomorrow, then at Bellerive Oval on Sunday.

Their first tournament match will be against Zimbabwe at Bellerive Oval starting at 7pm local time (9am Irish time) Monday followed by games