Australia smash Ireland by nine wickets in Benoni

Set a meagre target of 199 to win, Australia made light work of their chase to easily defeat Ireland by 9 wickets with 119 balls to spare in Benoni on Tuesday.

Australia bowled the Irish out in 43.5 overs and restricted the men in green to just 198 with each of the five bowlers used getting among the wickets.

Adam Zampa finished as the pick of the bowlers with his figures of 3 for 37 from ten overs while John Hastings and Scott Boland picked up two sticks each.

The Irish struggled just as they did against South Africa on Sunday with John Anderson’s 39 being the top score. Paul Stirling also smashed 30 off 27 balls before Boland accounted for him.

Daniel Worrall capped his debut by picking up the wicket of Ireland wicketkeeper Gary Wilson and would end up returning figures of 1 for 43 from 10 overs.

Australia’s only speed bump on the way to overhauling the Irish total was the loss of David Warner, who blazed 48 from just 30 balls before he was caught and bowled by Tim Murtagh.

Usman Khawaja (82) and Steve Smith (59) would guide Australia to what turned out to be a routine victory.

Australia sealed victory in the 30th over of their run chase after having smashed 19 fours and five sixes en route to the win.