Adair seeks Ireland progress at T20 World Cup

Mark Adair feels Ireland's upcoming games against Italy and the United Arab Emirates in Dubai will "give us the best opportunity to get everyone ready" for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Ireland begin their campaign against joint hosts Sri Lanka in Colombo on Sunday, 8 February, but before that they have three T20 internationals against Italy on 23, 25 and 26 January, and a two-game series against the UAE on 29 and 31 January.

Those five matches will help fine-tune preparations and "find what our best 11 is or best 12" according to the 29-year-old pace bowler who returned from a knee injury for Ireland's 2-1 T20 series defeat in Bangladesh in December, before finishing the year with the Gulf Giants in the ILT20.

Adair says "it's been nice to blow the cobwebs off" but attention now turns to the T20 World Cup where Ireland will face Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe after their opener against Sri Lanka.

The top two teams in each of the four groups will advance to the Super 8 phase, and while that will be no straightforward task, it remains a goal for the Ireland squad.

"I don't think there are too many groups you would go, 'I wouldn't mind being in that one'," Adair told BBC Sport NI from Dubai.

"Being in a group with one of the big names in world cricket with Australia, and then the hosts Sri Lanka which I'm sure the first game for us against them in Colombo will be a great spectacle.

"We've a long history with Zimbabwe, played against them a lot. I think I've played 90-odd T20s and I would say about 20 of them have been against Zimbabwe, so we know what sort of team they are and their dangers, but there are no easy games and every one is a cup final.

"We want to qualify from this group, and to do that we have to take some scalps along the way, which would be nice."

Should they manage to do so, it will represent a major turnaround as at the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies, Ireland lost to India, Pakistan and Canada, while the game against the USA was rained off before a ball was bowled.

Adair says that competition "wasn't great" from an Ireland perspective but "we've had time since them to look at ourselves as players and move forward".

Older brother Ross - who is back following his own knee injury - was part of the squad two years ago, but is expected to play a greater role this time which "will be nice for mum and dad" who may also get the opportunity to see the younger sibling reach 150 T20 wickets should he not breach that tally in the upcoming games in Dubai.

"If I could get to 160 at the World Cup that would be even nicer," the Holywood man said.

"Cricket is such a weird game where you can bowl the best you've ever bowled and end up with no wickets, but then not bowl very well and take wickets.

"I've been that guy because of other people, so I don't think the wickets tell a full story, but it's nice to have taken a few and hopefully I can keep that going."

The pre-World Cup matches will be most welcome, considering last year team captain Paul Stirling cited the lack of cricket left them "underprepared" for the three-match series against England in Malahide.

A Test match against New Zealand at Stormont is a possibility for later in what is planned to be a much busier year, with Adair agreeing that gives Ireland "a better chance to grow the game".

"I grew up watching boys play at the World Cup like Gary Wilson," he said.

"There is a photo of me running the covers on at Stormont at one of the Ireland-England games and I asked Gary Wilson for a photo, then 10 years later he's your T20 captain and 15 years later he's your batting coach. You never know who you are playing for and who you could potentially influence.

"If I was 20 years old now, I'd look at cricket as a serious chance to have a life in professional sport because there are so many opportunities to play.

"If Ireland keep moving forward, hopefully those opportunities will be even better for the guys coming behind us."