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April 13, 2007 (Link to Scorecard)

The mighty Aussies wasted no time in blowing out the Irish in their so called Super Eights clash at Barbados. It took them just over 42 overs to wrap up the entire match. Ireland got skittled away for a double digit score, which was knocked off in style by the Aussies.

On the fast and bouncy track at the Kensington Oval, Ricky Ponting didn't want to spend his team's energy for an unimportant affair. He won the toss and put Ireland to bat first, other teams might have had gone in for batting practice, but not the Kangaroos. Glenn McGrath and Shaun Tait destroyed the top order to have the minnows at 12 for 4 inside the five overs. Ireland could put up a minute resistance to come up with 91 on the board as they got bundled out in exactly 30 overs. The top scorer was John Mooney, who would be proud with his 23. Only two other batsmen had the honour of getting into double figures.

The Aussies rested Nathan Bracken to give Stuart Clark, his first World Cup match. All the five bowlers used by Ponting were amongst the wickets with Tait and McGrath picking up three each. Gilchrist had a new partner in Michael Hussey, a player who hasn't lived upto his reputation in this tournament. Both the openers cracked 62 on the board before Gilchrist was cleaned up by the Irish Captain Trent Johnston for a 25-ball 34. Hussey got to 30 from 41 with 3 fours and a six while Andrew Symonds got a chance in the middle to remain onto 15 from 9 balls with a boundary and a six. The 92 runs were smashed in 12.2 overs. Glenn McGrath was given the Man of the Match award for his suffocating spell with the new ball.

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