Ireland v Zimbabwe: O'Brien will 'produce the goods' again insists skipper Balbirnie

Kevin O'Brien managed only two runs in Ireland's three T20 games against South Africa last month - which included two ducks

Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie insists veteran batsmen Kevin O'Brien "remains really important to this team" despite his recent struggles for form.

O'Brien, 37, managed only two runs in the three T20 defeats by South Africa in July a month after opting to end his one-day international career.

However, O'Brien will again open the batting with Paul Stirling in Friday's T20 series opener against Zimbabwe.

"I've no doubt he'll be able to produce the goods," said Balbirnie.

Friday's game at Clontarf begins a five-match T20 series which is Ireland's only scheduled matches in the 120-ball format prior to their involvement in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Irish also face Zimbabwe in one-day series

The T20 matches are followed by a three-game one-day series between the teams at Stormont when World Cup Super League points will be on offer.

"Kevin didn't get the scores he wanted against South Africa but that can happen as a batter," added the Ireland captain.

"There's no real change from us. We just want him to go out and play with that freedom and that exciting brand that he's brought to the Irish team for so long.

"He's got a lot of runs in the bank and hopefully he can produce some more over the next year or so."

O'Brien's Ireland career includes him hitting the fastest century in 50-over World Cup history in his 50-ball knock against England in 2011.

In 2018, he notched a century in the Ireland men's historic first Test match against Pakistan and he also performed well in 2019 before the runs began to dry up when Ireland finally did manage to get in some cricket amid the global pandemic.

"It's only been three games where it hasn't worked [for Kevin]," added the Ireland captain.

"What he did in 2019 - albeit it was a couple of years ago - was outstanding so we weren't not getting too worried about those South Africa games."

Stirling in action fresh from Hundred heroics

Balbirnie is hoping O'Brien, who is also continuing his Test career, will gel with in-form Stirling at the top of Ireland's batting order.

Fresh from his heroics in helping Southern Brave clinch the men's title in The Hundred on Saturday, Stirling shouldn't lack for confidence in Friday's opener at Clontarf as he makes his 300th appearance for his country.

"I'm a big believer that he should be playing in every competition around the world because he's that good. Bar his parents, I'm probably his biggest fan," joked the Ireland skipper.

"He's so down to earth, you probably can't even tell if he's on cloud nine but I think he's really happy getting that exposure which he absolutely deserves."

Wicketkeeper Neil Rock will make his Ireland debut in Friday's game with Curtis Campher set to feature in his first T20 game for his adopted country after making an impressive start to his 50-over career at international level.

Campher will bat at number five as he undertakes an all-rounder role with Mark Adair ruled out of the contest after suffering a back spasm earlier this week.

"'Curtis hasn't bowled a lot [recently} because of his ankle injury so this series is a good chance to see how he can get his bowling back up in pressure situations," continued the Ireland captain.

Ireland focus on T20 scenarios

Balbirnie felt Ireland's total lack of T20 game time prior to the South Africa games was glaringly obvious in the 3-0 series defeat and says there were attempts to address those deficiencies in their recent training camp in Somerset.

"We had a week in Millfield School in Somerset and we actually did quite a few scenario situations rather than just doing nets just to get things a bit more specific.

"The guys really adapted well and liked that challenge."

Zimbabwe did not qualify for their T20 World Cup but they earned 1-1 series draw against Bangladesh in the format last month.

Craig Ervine will become the fifth man to lead Zimbabwe in white-ball cricket since 2020 when he captains the side in Ireland with Sean Williams missing the T20 games before returning for the one-day series.