Zimbabwe v Ireland T20: Struggling sides meet in opening contest in Harare

Captain Paul Stirling says the Zimbabwe series can be a "fresh start" for the Irish who struggled last summer

Ireland will hope for a better showing in Zimbabwe as they face the hosts in six white-ball games than their efforts in the country in June when they toiled during the World Cup qualifiers.

On the occasion defeats by Oman, Scotland and Sri Lanka ended Irish hopes and Andrew Balbirnie's captaincy.

Their form has since been unconvincing but new skipper Paul Stirling says this series can be a "fresh start".

"It's a really important series," he added before Thursday's opening T20.

Two further T20 contests will take place at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday and Sunday before three one-day games at the same venue on 13, 15 and 17 December.

Zimbabwe shock non-qualifiers for T20 World Cup

While Ireland go into the series after a summer of struggle at home and abroad, Zimbabwe's morale was also badly dented by their recent shock failure to qualify for next summer's T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA as a defeat by Uganda ultimately put paid to their hopes.

Despite that, Stirling is expecting tight battles against the hosts after Zimbabwe edged a 2-1 T20 series in Harare last January which was followed a one-day series that ended 1-1 when the decider was rained off.

"We've never won a series in Zimbabwe so I think there's absolutely no reason to take Zimbabwe lightly or think that we cannot be anything but our best to win games," said the Ireland captain.

"We know Zimbabwe have had a tough time recently, but we know that their players are good players, so we'll be ready for their best to come at us, and we've got to be the same."

• Ireland name squad for Zimbabwe trip

While Zimbabwe missed out on T20 World Cup qualification, Ireland did manage to emerge from last July's European qualifier in Scotland and the three games in Zimbabwe will form an important part of preparations for next summer's tournament.

"We've got a T20 World Cup coming soon in the Caribbean and the USA so that's the start of our process in the T20, and then again in the one-day stuff," added Stirling.

"The actual 50-over World Cup itself is a very long way away but actually things start now in preparation for that. And that process begins probably in the first ODI here in Zimbabwe."

Ireland coach Heinrich Malan says the absence of a first-class structure in the country is hindering the development of international players

The Ireland squad is largely unchanged from the one that struggled during a summer that concluded with a 1-0 one-day series defeat by a largely second-string England team. The first match was abandoned and the final match declared a no-result after rain intervened with the hosts set for a mammoth total.

Speaking prior to departing for Zimbabwe, Ireland coach Heinrich Malan said the country's continuing lack of a first-class structure was hindering its ability to develop future internationals although International Cricket Council funding that has been promised may go some way to helping them.

However in the short-term, Ireland have to focus on preparing to produce another impressive showing at the T20 World Cup after being the only team to beat eventual champions England at the 2022 tournament.

"We've got 12 or 14 T20s up until that point [the T20 World Cup]," said Malan.

"We've got a fair idea of what our best 12 or so players are in that format. So it's really about ensuring we keep testing those combinations, find and glue and the confidence in the way we want to play so that once we get to the West Indies and America, we can hit the ground running."