Match facts
Who: Australia v Zimbabwe
What: Match 19, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Group B
When: Friday, February 13. First ball 11am local time (4:30pm AEDT)
Where: R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Live scores: Match Centre
How to watch: Prime Video
How to listen: ABC Listen and SEN Radio
Officials: Chris Gaffaney and Raveendra Wimalasiri (field), Richard Illingworth (third), Kumar Dharmasena (fourth), Richie Richardson (match referee)
News and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au and the CA Live app. The Unplayable Podcast will also be bringing listeners weekly World Cup updates during the group stage and will be joined by special guests to dissect all the talking points from the tournament. Aussie stars Tim David and Josh Inglis were on the pod ahead of the opening match, so make sure you catch up and subscribe by clicking on your preferred platform below.
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Broadcast info
All 55 matches will again be shown exclusively live on Prime Video in Australia with the subscription streaming service holding the Aussie broadcast rights for all ICC events until the end of 2027. There is no free-to-air Australian television broadcast under the deal. You can sign up for Prime Video, as well as their 30-day free trial, here.
If joining the broadcast late, Prime Video offers a ‘rapid recap’ feature, which will bring fans up to speed on the best action so far. Prime Video will also produce on-demand highlights packages after every match along with full match replays, available immediately after the match has finished.
The squads
Australia: Mitch Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Sean Abbott, Steve Smith
Superstar batter Steve Smith is on his way to join the Australian squad in Sri Lanka after captain Mitch Marsh suffered internal testicular bleeding after copping a painful blow to the groin area at training last Sunday. Marsh missed Australia’s first-up win over Ireland and is in some doubt to face Zimbabwe as well with Cricket Australia confirming he requires “a period of rest and rehabilitation”.
Smith is on stand by but hasn’t been officially added to Australia’s World Cup squad yet. They do have a spare spot available though if they need to bring him in quickly after opting not to replace Josh Hazlewood in their 15-man group when it was revealed last week that he would miss the tournament.
Zimbabwe: Sikandar Raza (c), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer, Bradley Evans, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Brendan Taylor
After missing out of the previous edition, Zimbabwe won the African Qualifiers in front of a home crowd to return to the tournament in 2026. The side has an experienced leader in Sikandar Raza, who will be well supported by veteran wicketkeeper-batter Brendan Taylor.
Blessing Muzarabani is back from injury to spearhead Zimbabwe’s pace attack and took a player-of-the-match-winning 3-16 as they opened the tournament with a big win over Oman. Zimbabwe’s quicks will be guided by former West Indies great Courtney Walsh, who has been appointed as the side’s bowling consultant.
Possible XIs
Australia: Travis Head (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Matthew Renshaw, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Cooper Connolly, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Matthew Kuhnemann
Xavier Bartlett bowled just two overs for 22 runs in Australia’s win over Ireland on Wednesday and could make way if Tim David is ready to return from a hamstring injury. That would keep allrounder Cooper Connolly in the side and his left-arm spin could be useful with the match’s 11am start likely to result in another dry surface that make scoring off the slower bowlers harder. Marcus Stoinis didn’t bowl in the first match and could take Bartlett’s overs if required. Glenn Maxwell was another unused bowling option in the first match.
Meanwhile, captain Mitch Marsh is in doubt for Australia’s second match due to internal testicular bleeding after being hit in the groin area at training. His absence for a second straight match would leave Travis Head to again captain the side. Standby player Steve Smith is yet to be officially added to the squad and is unlikely to be available to play on Friday as he was still in Australia at Adelaide’s LIV Golf Pro-Am on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Dion Myers, Brendan Taylor (wk), Sikandar Raza (c), Ryan Burl, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
Fitness pending, it’s unlikely that Zimbabwe would change a winning formula from their thumping eight-wicket win over Oman on Monday, which was played in the afternoon timeslot across town at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground south of Colombo city.
Seamers Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans took three wickets apiece, while off-spinning allrounder Sikandar Raza and left-arm tweaker Wellington Masakadza bowled economically. Opener Brian Bennett then smashed 48 not out off 36 balls to lead their chase of 2-106 in 13.3 overs.
Australia v Zimbabwe history
Did you know Australia have never beaten Zimbabwe at a T20 World Cup? T20 internationals between the nations are limited, but their first ever meeting in the format saw the African side come away with a five-wicket win when they met in Cape Town in the fourth match of the 2007 World T20, as it was then called. Opening batter Brendan Taylor turned the winning runs to the fine-leg boundary in his 60no off 45 as Nathan Bracken conceded 12 off the final over for Zimbabwe’s famous win. Remarkably, Taylor, now 40, is expected to line-up in this match! Then-Australia captain Ricky Ponting said after that 2007 defeat “It’s a mental thing for us – we’ve got to start respecting the game a bit more” – a reputation Australia has struggled to shake in the intervening years.
The sides have only played two other T20 internationals, both in Harare as part of a 2018 tri-series also involving Pakistan early on in the Justin Langer era. That series is famous for Aaron Finch’s 172 off 76 balls, still a world record for the highest individual score in a men’s T20I. Australia won both those matches comfortably, by 100 runs in the first match, and by five wickets in the second.
Group B latest
Australia have jumped immediately to the top of Group B with a net run-rate of 3.35 thanks to their thumping 67-run win over Ireland. Their next opponents Zimbabwe are second with a similarly strong NRR after smashing Oman by eight wickets. Co-hosts Sri Lanka were the other team to win their opening match in a close encounter with Ireland.
The Irish hopes of progressing beyond the group stage now appear slim as they sit bottom of the standings with a second loss in as many games. Sri Lanka and Oman are next up in Group B when they face off in the first game of the tournament in Kandy on Thursday, before Oman head back to Colombo to take on Ireland at the second Colombo venue, the SSC Ground, on Saturday. The top two teams after each nation has played their four group matches will progress to the Super Eight stage.
Players to watch
Matthew Renshaw (Australia): With Mitch Marsh still recovering from his testicle injury, Matthew Renshaw looks likely to hold his place for the second T20 with Tim David also expected to return to the starting XI. The Queenslander was brought into the squad specifically for his versatility and play against spin, and said his partnership with Marcus Stoinis in the win against Ireland was key. It also helped Renshaw settle his nerves on World Cup debut, with the Brisbane Heat star giving credit to the calmness from Stoinis during their stand.
Blessing Muzarabani (Zimbabwe): A tall, lightly-framed fast bowler from Harare, Blessing Muzarabani is one of Zimbabwe’s success stories of recent years. Only Mitch Starc and Mohammad Siraj took more Test wickets in 2025 than him and he began this tournament with a player-of-the-match performance (3-16) against Oman. Not one to shy away from the contest, expect Muzarabani to be fired up for this contest against the Australians, a team he hasn’t faced in T20Is since 2018 when he took five wickets in two games.
Local knowledge
Australia extended their strong T20 record at Premadasa Stadium by beating Ireland and have now won eight of their 10 matches at Colombo’s premier cricket venue. Their recent match was the first time Australia had batted first in those 10 games, and they promptly posted their highest T20 total at the venue of 6-182.
Spin bowling has dominated here, responsible to almost half the wickets to fall, and operating at an economy rate on average almost one-and-a-half runs fewer than their pace counterparts. Australia, Ireland and Sri Lanka have bowled a combined 49 overs of spin of 77 to be completed in the two games at Premadasa Stadium so far this tournament.
Form guide
Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: No result
Australia: WLLLNLLWNW
Australia snapped a five-game losing streak with a win in their tournament opener, bouncing back from a three-nil demolition at the hands of Pakistan in Lahore leading into the T20 World Cup. Australia also lost a series to tournament favourites India (1-2) at home late last year, but prior to that, they had won 16 of 18 completed T20 internationals since the 2024 World Cup, including series sweeps of Scotland, Pakistan and West Indies.
Zimbabwe: WLLWLLLLWW
It been a strange period for Zimbabwe who found their calendar full with Test cricket in 2025 with 10 Tests (only Australia played more) and then devoid of T20s in the lead-in to this tournament. Their opening win over Oman was their first match in the format since late November. Those last matches were a tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where they lost three and won one (against SL).
Rapid facts
Australia have won their past two men’s T20Is against Zimbabwe, after losing their first-ever meeting in the format at the first T20 World Cup in 2007 in Cape Town.
Both sides are seeking consecutive wins to begin the tournament – for Zimbabwe it would be only the second time they have managed that (2016) while Australia have done it on four previous occasions (2010, 2012, 2021, 2024).
Australia are aiming for consecutive wins in men’s T20Is in Asia for the first time since June 2022. Beating Ireland snapped a five-match losing run on the continent in the format.
Zimbabwe have scored at least 60 per cent of their runs from boundaries in each of their past three men’s T20I innings; they hadn’t done so in six innings in the format prior to that.
Australia have scored 180+ runs in their past two men’s T20 World Cup innings; it’s the first time they’ve done so in consecutive innings in the history of the tournament.
Brian Bennett (Zimbabwe) has scored 590 runs at an average of 49.2 across his past 13 T20I batting innings; he’s recorded 45+ runs in four of his past six innings in that span, including 48no against Oman last time out.
Nathan Ellis (Australia) has taken 17 wickets at a strike rate of 10.5 across his past eight T20 bowling innings (x7 Big Bash League, x1 T20I), recording at least one wicket in each of those eight innings. His 4-12 against Ireland made him the sixth Australian man to take 4+ wickets in an innings at a T20 World Cup.
Blessing Muzarabani (96) is four away from becoming the third player to record 100 wickets for Zimbabwe in men’s T20Is (Richard Ngarava – 111, Sikandar Raza – 103); he’s taken at least two wickets in each of his last two innings in the format.
Marcus Stoinis (Australia) has scored 428 runs at an average of 47.6 across his past 13 T20 batting innings (x8 Big Bash League, x5 T20I); of his five T20 World Cup innings in Asia, he’s been dismissed only twice (24*, 16*, 0, 40*, 45).
2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
Australia squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Sean Abbott
Australia’s Group Stage fixtures
February 11: v Ireland, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (8:30pm AEDT)
February 13: v Zimbabwe, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (4:30pm AEDT)
February 16: v Sri Lanka, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 17, 12:30am AEDT)
February 20: v Oman, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 21, 12:30am AEDT)
Australia’s Super Eight fixtures
(Assuming all seeded teams qualify)
February 23: Australia (X2) v West Indies (X3), Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Feb 24, 12:30am AEDT)
February 26: India (X1) v Australia (X2), MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai (Feb 27, 12:30am AEDT)
March 1: Australia (X2) v South Africa (X4), Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, 8:30pm AEDT
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
