Lorcan Tucker rescued Ireland from a Halloween horror show in Brisbane with a superb, undefeated 71 but it was too late to prevent a 42 runs defeat by Australia in their penultimate Super 12 game at the T20 World Cup.

 

The loss of five wickets for seven runs in the space of 13 balls derailed Ireland’s already imposing chase for a target of 180 but Tucker continued his fine form of recent months with a fifth T20 half-century, just five days after sharing a second wicket stand of 82 with skipper Andrew Balbirnie in the victory over England.

 

There was to be no repeat this time as the defending champions piled up 179 for five – which included an 11-ball over by Mark Adair which cost 26 runs – and then from 18 for no wicket, Ireland collapsed to 25 for five.

 

Incredibly, while Tucker was in the middle it was still game on and when the Dubliner took 18 off Mitchell Starc’s final over – in all he hit the aceleft-armer for seven fours -  he had reduced the target to 44 from the last three overs. But he never faced another ball!

 

With just two wickets remaining, Barry McCarthy failed to survive the second ball of the next over, pulling Pat Cummins to wide long-on and then, ridiculously, after playing three ‘dot’ balls, No 11 Josh Little took a single off the last ball of the over. Next ball, trying to give back the strike to Tucker, he was run out although the final margin was much closer than anyone expected 15 overs earlier.

 

However, the fact that Balbirnie said the defeat was a ‘missed opportunity’ shows just how far this side has come and the change in mindset which the team are now approaching even the toughest games.

 

As a result, the late recovery was no consolation to the captain, who admitted there were some false strokes up front which immediately put Ireland on the back foot.

 

Paul Stirling had hit Cummins for successive boundaries from his second and third deliveries but next over spooned a simple catch to extra cover off the spin of Glenn Maxwell who was given the third over.

 

By that stage, Balbirnie was also back in the players’ hut, bowled behind his legs going for a shot which has proved one of his strengths, but this was not the first time he had been dismissed by it in this tournament.

 

Maxwell was then gifted a second wicket in his opening over when Harry Tector, playing his 50^th T20I, pulled a short ball straight to square leg and Ireland were 24 for three.

 

The credit for the fourth and fifth wickets, however, has to go to Starc, two searing yorkers ripping through the defences of Curtis Campher, for a golden duck, and George Dockrell, four balls later.

 

Tucker, by contrast, took an instant liking to Starc, hitting the first two balls of his next over for four and made use of the short straight boundaries, showing impressive attacking intent which while never putting the result in serious doubt, certainly gave the Irish contingent in the 18,869 crowd plenty to shout about.

 

While Adair’s over - contributing to his most expensive figures in an Ireland shirt - grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons, it was another good day for Josh Little and Barry McCarthy and also George Dockrell who was given his full four overs for only the second time since January 2020.

 

McCarthy had the satisfaction of removing Australia’s top three, David Warner with his first delivery, caught at short fine leg and Mitchell Marsh with the first ball of his second over, but not before the Aussie No3 had pulled Fionn Hand into the top deck of the stand at deep mid-wicket.

 

He and Ireland had to wait a lot longer for the wicket of Australia captain Aaron Finch who showed an encouraging return to form with 63 off 45 balls, including five fours and three sixes.

 

Little, after two more tidy overs up front, came back to have the dangerous Glenn Maxwell caught behind and he followed up in his final over with the wicket of Stoinis, caught at backward point.

 

Stoinis, who hit the fastest ever 50 by an Australian in a T20I, off 17 balls, including five sixes, against Sri Lanka last week, had to make do with a solitary maximum but only because of the most spectacular fielding by McCarthy who somehow clawed back a certain six from behind the boundary, knocking it back into the field of play to save four runs. He winded himself in the process but was able to continue.

 

As for Dockrell, he got the seventh over of spin, ahead of Gareth Delany, because he had looked the most dangerous on the day and although his didn’t take a wicket, his economy rate of six was bettered only by Little.

 

Meanwhile, Balbirnie showed his unstinting faith in Adair by giving him the last over and although that went for another 17 runs, Australia were already out of sight.