Ireland will leave South Africa with two comprehensive defeats to their name, after Australia beat them by nine wickets in Benoni on Tuesday.
The Irish proved futile competition to the Proteas and Australia, as the Australians’ victory came two days after a massive 206-run win for the Proteas.
It allowed the Australian top order to get some runs under their belt with David Warner’s 48 being the lowest score, while there was a decent debut for paceman Daniel Worrall and an impressive three-wicket haul for Adam Zampa.
Australia might want to tinker with their side slightly with two more uncapped players in Chris Tremain and Joe Mennie still waiting in the wings, but the inexperienced attack all put in good shifts as they bowled their opponents out for 198.
Ireland, who won the toss and chose to have a bat first, got off to a cautious but decent start as they built up three solid partnerships at the top of the order with John Anderson high scoring with 39. The last eight wickets fell for just 77 runs, though, including a comical run out of Sean Terry for a golden duck.
Warner didn’t fancy hanging around too long as he smacked two boundaries in his first three balls. The ground fielding was poor from Ireland though and their catching was even worse as Usman Khawaja was put down on eight.
Warner was coasting to a half-century before a leading edge found bowler Tim Murtagh to walk for a 30-ball 48.
Skipper Steve Smith bode his time but eventually got going, and together with Khawaja, saw their side all the way over the line with a 125-run stand.
The first ODI against the Proteas gets underway on Friday.
Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/Backpage Pix
