T20 World Cup: Ireland have 'come a long way' since 2021 disappointment, says Andrew Balbirnie

Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie says his side's T20 World Cup performances are proof that "we've come a long way" since last year's tournament.

The Irish exited the World Cup on Friday as last year's beaten finalists New Zealand secured a 35-run win in Adelaide.

But Ireland depart having beaten two-time champions West Indies and England.

"Slightly disappointing (to lose) but I think we've come a long way since the last World Cup," said Balbirnie.

"But I think the last couple of performances have shown we certainly need to get better to get closer to these big teams."

After beating West Indies to advance to the Super 12s, Ireland followed a loss to Sri Lanka by shocking England in a rain-affected game in Melbourne.

However, Ireland failed to register another win in Group One as they missed out on a top-four finish, meaning they may need to go through another qualifying tournament to earn their place at the 2024 tournament.

"We want to be a team that people want to watch, whether we win or lose," added Balbirnie.

"There's a couple of moments in the last games where you thought what if, but at the same time, we're still a bit away from these top teams.

"We need to keep improving and playing regular cricket against them so we can improve and expand our squad as much as we can.

"We have guys who are ready to come in whenever they get the opportunity."

"At the start of the tournament, I said getting to the Super 12s would be a bonus. That's our aim. It will be deemed successful.

Josh Little further enhanced his growing reputation with a hat-trick against New Zealand

"We've played some pretty good cricket, and it's just a shame that we couldn't create something really special."

New Zealand restricted to 150-9 with pace bowler Lockie Ferguson taking 3-22 and spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi 2-26 and 2-31 respectively.

Black Caps captain Kane Williamson top-scored with 61 off 35 balls as they posted 185-6, while Josh Little took a hat-trick for Ireland in the 19th over as he finished the tournament with 11 wickets from seven games.

While Ireland finished the tournament with defeats by Australia and New Zealand after their match with Afghanistan was abandoned because of rain, Balbirnie said they have improved since failing to reach the Super 12s in 2021.

"We're by no means the finished article, but we certainly are a better team than we were 12 months ago, and that's all you can ask.

"Hopefully in a month's time, we'll be even better than we are now."