Spinner Alana King and young quick Darcie Brown combined for five wickets as Australia registered a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Ireland in Derry.
Australia bowlers do the damage
Experienced pacer Megan Schutt picked up the valuable wicket of Ireland young gun Gaby Lewis in the opening over of the match and the hosts were never able to recover.
Young quick Darcie Brown bowled superbly to dismiss Orla Prendergast (12) and skipper Laura Delany (0) as she collected impressive figures of 2/9, while spinner Alana King was just as impressive.
King chimed in with figures of 3/9 from her four overs and was deservedly named Player of the Match for her heroics with the ball.
Ireland batters fail to cope
Only four Ireland batters reached double figures after they were sent into bat by Australia captain Meg Lanning, with opener Rebecca Stokell top-scoring for the home side with a well-compiled 22.
Stokell missed a straight one from King as Ireland slumped to 44/6 in the 12th over, with Ava Canning (14*) and Leah Paul (12) adding some valuable late runs to help bulk up the score.
Looks like we need to work on our huddle game 😂
Pumped to play our first match against @IrishWomensCric since 2018! #IREvAUS pic.twitter.com/C6mAF4NIdB
— Australian Women’s Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) July 17, 2022
Experienced Australia top-order finish the job
However, a score of 99/8 was never going to be enough against this strong Australia batting line-up and the run chase was done and dusted inside 13 overs.
Australia openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney were obviously keen to knock off the runs as quickly as possible as they took 19 runs from the opening two overs of the chase.
Seamer Arlene Kelly intervened to remove Healy for 10 in the fifth over, but that was about as good as it got for the young Ireland side as the steady head of Lanning came to the crease to join Mooney.
The pair batted sensibly for the majority of their unbeaten 68-run stand and dispatched the bad deliveries when required as they mowed down Ireland’s total with relative ease.
Australia’s Tour of the UK, 2022
Australia’s squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington
T20 Tri-Series
Ireland squad: Laura Delany (c), Ava Canning, Rachel Delaney, Georgina Dempsey, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Sophie MacMahon, Jane Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Rebecca Stokell, Mary Waldron
Pakistan squad: Bismah Maroof (c), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Gul Feroza, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Tuba Hassan
July 16: Australia v Pakistan – No result
July 17: Australia defeated Ireland by nine wickets
July 19: Ireland v Pakistan
July 21: Australia v Ireland
July 23: Australia v Pakistan
July 24: Ireland v Pakistan
All matches start 4pm local time (1am AEST) and played at Bready Cricket Club, Derry, Northern Ireland
