Andrew Balbirnie rues poor batting after crushing defeat against Australia

Andrew Balbirnie in action [Source: Associated Press]

Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie thinks the failure of the batters cost them the game against Australia in Brisbane on Monday. 

Batting first, Australia posted a challenging 179 on the board, courtesy of a fabulous half century from skipper Aaron Finch. 

The Irish team, in reply, were off to a shaky start, reeling at 25 for five in the fourth over. In particular, they had no answers to Mitchell Starc's superb exhibition of swing bowling. 

Afterwards, Lorcan Tucker played a terrific knock of 71* off 48, but the lack of acceleration at the other end meant Ireland were dismissed for 137 and lost by 42 runs. 

Balbirnie thinks they lost too many wickets in the powerplay, which pushed them to the back foot. 

However, the Irish skipper reckoned that had any key batter stayed alongside Tucker, the result could have been different. 

Here's what Balbirnie said

"It was hardly fought. The first innings got away, we bowled well but a couple of overs didn't go our way and certainly didn't get the start with the bat, but to show the fight at the end was nice,

"Looking at the scoreboard we thought it wasn't against us, again the wickets column was a problem and who knows if someone had stayed with Tucker. He has had a really good World Cup and these wickets here suit him."

With this victory, Australia positioned themselves at the second position in the points table with five points. 

On the other hand, Ireland will have to win their next game against New Zealand by a significant margin to have an outside chance for the semi-final spot.

Read more: T20 World Cup: Hazratullah Zazai ruled out of the tournament due to injury