Australia v Ireland ODI review - Australia prevail over Ireland in a rain hit game

Australia v Ireland ODI review – Australia prevail over Ireland in a rain hit game: In what was a match marred by rain interruptions, it was Australia who eventually emerged victorious against Ireland on Thursday. Ireland fought well but their efforts proved to be too little too late for them as Australia managed to thump them by 23 runs in the end. It was a one-off ODI match, so unluckily for Ireland, they can’t come back rectifying their mistakes as there is no next chance.

Batting first, Australia were able to go past the 100 run mark inside fifteen overs with David Warner plundering runs at will. Warner departed for a well made 84 while Burns gave away his wicket when he was on 69. And as it was evident in the Ashes, Australia’s vulnerable middle order again was in jitters as Australia, who were at one stage 139 for no loss, got to only a modest score of 222 at the end of 40 overs when rain played spoilsport.

Chasing a revised target of 180 runs, Ireland looked set to clinch a historical win, but their middle order proved to be their Achilles’ heel and in the end cost them the match. William Porterfield got his stumps cleaned up by a fiery yorker from the dangerous Mitchell Starc. And Sterling was dismissed for a duck by Coulter Nile.

When Ireland were in a spot of bother, that’s when Ed Joyce and Neil O’Brian, two of Ireland’s most prolific run scorers stepped up and started to score runs at a brisk pace. Joyce scored at an astounding strike rate of 133 while Brian too played well taking risks now and then. Ireland sure missed the services of Kevin O’Brien whose hamstring injury prevented him from playing such an important match. When Ed Joyce and Neil were batting many would have thought that Ireland may script a historical win, but unfortunately their frail middle order did them in and the Irish kept losing wickets at regular intervals. There was no one to steer the ship home after the dismissals of Joyce and Brian.

In the end, Ireland got bundled up for 157 runs inside 24 overs and let go off a match that was well within their grasp. David Warner won the man of the match award for his blistering 84 runs.

Brief score:

Australia – 222-6 (Warner 84; Burns 69) won by 23 runs (D/L)

Ireland – 157-10 (O’Brien 45; Coulter-Nile 3-13)