Watson shines in Australia's win over Ireland

Watson has been Australia’s key man

At the start of this match, Ian Chappell, while doing the pitch report, mentioned that the wicket would certainly provide a great cricketing contest as it had good pace and bounce, and batsmen at the start wouldn’t find it easy to pick the new ball. That’s exactly what happened as Australia thrashed Ireland convincingly by seven wickets in their opening game at Colombo.

Ireland won the toss and elected to bat first on a good bouncy wicket. Shane Watson struck with the first ball of the match as he stunned Ireland’s skipper with a short delivery for naught. In a little while, Starc scalped the wicket of Stirling as he tried to scoop it over third-man, but only managed to find Watson, who took a fine catch to get rid of him. Subsequently, Joyce struck a couple of boundaries off Cummins in the 2nd over, but couldn’t convert his start into a big score as he was dismissed by Maxwell for 16. After the fall of the third wicket, Ireland found some sought of rhythm as Kevin O’Brien struck two glorious boundaries off Cummins, but Australia’s bowlers made sure that there were no big partnerships as Hogg got rid of Wilson cheaply for 5 in his very first over.

Soon after, Ireland’s innings was carried by the O’Brien brothers as they two shared a salvaging partnership, which helped Ireland cross the 100-run mark. The O’Brien brothers batted beautifully as they struck some glorious boundaries, and we must not forget what Kevin did to outclass England in the 2011 World Cup. He showed his masterful abilities on how to handle short balls once again as Australia’s bowlers found it relatively difficult to get rid of him. However, his dismissal at the end cost Ireland the match as the rest of the batsmen were sent packing to the pavilion in no time, and Ireland’s innings ended at 123 runs at the end of 20 overs with the loss of 7 wickets.

It was a pretty respectable total, given that the wicket had good pace and bounce. If Ireland could have struck with the new-ball by removing the top three Australian batsman, then certainly there would have been a good contest. But Ireland’s bowlers failed to hit the deck hard consistently.

David Warner, in his usual manner, started the chase by driving Rankin through covers for a four. He also got good support from Watson as the duo put up 60 runs for the first wicket before Warner was dismissed for 26 runs.

Australia stumbled to 95-3 in the 13th over, but made sure that they did not make a mess of the small target after having got nearer to the target. It was Hussey and Bailey who finished the job for Australia.

Despite a win against Ireland, Australia do not look favorites to win the Cup, given that if the openers are dismissed in quick time, the middle order too gets out cheaply, which is not a good signal for Australia. Australia will have to re-think, and come out with an effective plan to play well in the middle part of the innings. They are heavily reliant on Warner and Watson.