T20 World Cup: Kevin O’Brien hopes to spark Ireland cricket’s surge in shortest format too

Kevin O’Brien – the architect of one of one-day cricket’s greatest upsets – is hoping to inspire Ireland as they seek finally to make their mark at a T20 World Cup.

Ireland have shown they can mix it with the big boys in the longer format of white-ball cricket, with scalps including England, Pakistan and West Indies in the 50-over World Cup. But their record in the 20-over game is less impressive – they boast just three wins in 15 maches over the past five tournaments.

Their most notable victory was against Bangladesh at the 2009 competition in England, a result that helped propel them into the second stage. But they have crashed out at the first hurdle in every tournament since then, despite wins against Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates in 2014.

O’Brien is desperate to put matters right in Ireland’s first appearance on the global stage in limited-overs cricket since 2016.

Irish cricket’s most recognisable face and their only Test centurion retired from one-day internationals in June to focus on T20 cricket and the five-day game.

“We’ve had a lot more success and our big victories have been in the 50-over tournament,” the 37-year-old told the Irish Examiner.

“But you look back at when we beat Bangladesh in 2009…

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