COLOMBO, Sept 19: Australia made the opening statement they were looking for in pounding Ireland by seven wickets in the World Twenty20 here on Wednesday.

Shane Watson spearheaded the Australians by taking 3-26 then hammering a brisk 51 off 30 balls, as they scored 125-3 with nearly five overs to spare in chasing down Ireland’s modest 123-7 before a sparse crowd of 3,500 at the 35,000-capacity R. Premadasa Stadium.

The cricket world had a little laugh at Australia earlier this year when they were overtaken briefly by Ireland in the T20 rankings. This made the first ever match between the teams a real test for Australia to prove that their No 9 ranking, just one above Ireland, did not reflect their real strength.

“We knew how important it was to be able to make a statement today, more than anything [else],” Man-of-the-Match Watson said. “We know with the quality of talent we have in our group, if we are at our best we are certainly going to be a challenge to the best teams in the world. Today was the first step along that way.

Ireland captain William Porterfield said they were let down by the batting, as defending around six runs per over on a good pitch was too much for the bowlers to defend.

Porterfield didn’t help his side when he won the toss and elected to bat first and was dismissed on the first ball of the match. He tried to hook a Watson bouncer but ended up only top-edging the ball for an easy catch at deep fine-leg by Mitchell Starc.

Watson and Starc were involved again in the dismissal of Paul Stirling when Ireland’s total was 15. The batsman sliced the ball against Starc, the left-arm seamer, and was well caught by Watson at third man.

Ed Joyce tried to lift the ball over the infield against off-spinner Glenn Maxwell but found David Warner at mid-off on 16. Left-arm orthodox bowler Brad Hogg broke through with his second delivery trapping Gary Wilson lbw for five in the eighth over.

At 33-4 Ireland were precariously placed, then brothers Kevin and Niall O’Brien combined for 52 to help set up a decent total.

Kevin hit five boundaries during his 29-ball innings and Niall made 20 off 24 balls before Watson dismissed both in the 15th over, bowling Niall and, three balls later, having Kevin caught by wicket-keeper Mathew Wade.

Kevin O’Brien top-scored for Ireland with 35. Starc gave Watson good support in returning 2-20.    Australia got off to a good start reaching 60 before losing Warner in the eighth over for 26. He was caught by a diving Kevin O’Brien off left-arm spinner George Dockrell.

Watson hit three sixes and five boundaries in his entertaining knock until he was run out to a brilliant direct hit from Trent Johnston.

Australia had lost two wickets for four runs when Mike Hussey departed with the total on 95, but it was too late for Ireland to recover.—AP

Scoreboard IRELAND: W.T.S. Porterfield c Starc b Watson    0 P.R. Stirling c Watson b Starc    7 E.C. Joyce c Warner b Maxwell    16 N.J. O’Brien b Watson    20 G.C. Wilson lbw b Hogg    5 K.J. O’Brien c Wade b Watson    35 A.R. Cusack not out    15 D.T. Johnston b Starc    7 N.G. Jones not out    14

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-1)    4 TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs)    123 FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-15, 3-25, 4-33, 5-85, 6-86, 7-101. DID NOT BAT: G.H. Dockrell, W.B. Rankin. BOWLING: Watson 4-0-26-3, Starc 4-0-20-2, Cummins 4-0-29-0, Maxwell 2-0-12-1, Christian 2-0-11-0, Hogg 4-0-22-1.

AUSTRALIA: D.A. Warner c K.J. O’Brien b Dockrell    26 S.R. Watson run out    51 M.E.K. Hussey lbw b K.J. O’Brien    10 C.L. White not out    22 G.J. Bailey not out    6

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-6)    10 TOTAL (for three wkts, 15.1 overs)    125 FALL OF WKTS: 1-60, 2-91, 3-95. DID NOT BAT: G.J. Maxwell, M.S. Wade, D.T. Christian, G.B. Hogg, P.J. Cummins, M.A. Starc. BOWLING: Rankin 4-0-28-0 (5w); Johnston 2-0-21-0; Cusack 2-0-10-0 (1w); Dockrell 3.1-0-31-1; Stirling 1-0-13-0; K.J. O’Brien 3-0-18-1.

RESULT: Australia won by seven wickets. UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka). TV UMPIRE: Asad Rauf (Pakistan). MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shane Watson.