Aussies win, Irish heartbroken

Australia racked up a 25th consecutive World Cup victory on Friday, defeating New Zealand in an emotional encounter while Ireland wasted a golden opportunity to heap more pain on Bangladesh. In a match played out against the raw emotional background of the Christchurch earthquake, Australia defeated their trans-Tasman rivals by 7 wickets in Nagpur.
Chasing 206 to win, non-Test playing Ireland were well set at 151-5 but then lost their last 5 wickets for just 27 runs with seamer Shafiul Islam claiming 4 Irish victims.
Ruthless Australia compounded the miseries of rivals New Zealand by notching up a seven-wicket victory in their World Cup match on Friday. Chasing an easy target of 207 runs for victory, Australia openers Shane Watson (62) and Brad Haddin (55) piled on 133 for the first wicket in just 18 overs as they punished the erratic bowling of New Zealand in the Group A encounter.
-- Australia extend their team's unbeaten run to 31 matches
-- A minute's silence for quake victims observed
-- The start ensured that there were no hiccups, though both openers departed in the same over to paceman Hamish Bennett.
-- Captain Ricky Ponting (12) followed soon after, stumped brilliantly down the leg side by Brendon McCullum off Tim Southee. Vice captain Michael Clarke and Cameron White saw Australia home in just 34 overs with an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 40 runs to extend their team's unbeaten run in World Cup to 31 matches.
The Kiwi bowlers did not help their cause by bowling 32 extras, which included 29 wides. The match was played against a sombre backdrop following the devastating earthquake in Christchurch earlier this week. Both teams observed a minute's silence and wore black arm-bands, while the New Zealand flag flew at half mast in memory of the victims of the earthquake, which has claimed at least 113 lives with 228 people still missing.
Johnson (four for 33) and Tait (three for 35) shared seven wickets among themselves, while Brett Lee and Shane Watson also chipped in with a wicket apiece. Steve Smith was the only spinner to pick up a wicket.

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Scoreboard New Zealand

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M. Guptill b Watson                   10

B. McCullum c Krejza b Tait           16

J. Ryder c Haddin b Johnson           25

R. Taylor b Tait                       7

J. Franklin c Haddin b Johnson         0

S. Styris c Haddin b Tait              0

J. How lbw b Smith                    22

N. McCullum lbw b Johnson             52

D. Vettori c Haddin b Lee             44

T. Southee c Ponting b Johnson         6

H. Bennett not out                     0

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Extras: (b1, lb8, w13, nb2)           24

Total: (all out, 45.1 overs)         206

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Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-40, 3-66, 4-66, 5-67, 6-73, 7-121, 8-175, 9-206, 10-206
Bowling: Lee 8-2-29-1; Tait 7-0-35-3 (2nb, 4w); Johnson 9.1-3-33-4 (2w); Watson 3-1-9-1 (1w); Krejza 9-0-47-0 (1w); Smith 9-0-44-1

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Australia

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S. Watson b Bennett                   62

B. Haddin c Franklin b Bennett        55

R. Ponting st B.McCullum b Southee    12

M. Clarke not out                     24

C. White not out                      22

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Extras: (lb3, w29)                    32

Total: (3 wkts, 34 overs)            207

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Did not bat: D Hussey, S Smith, M Johnson, B Lee, S Tait, J Krejza
Fall of wickets: 1-133, 2-136, 3-167
Bowling: Southee 10-2-45-1 (4w); Vettori 7-0-39-0 (1w); Bennett 7-0-63-2 (7w); N McCullum 3-0-22-0; Ryder 5-0-24-0 (3w); Franklin 2-0-11-0
Result: Australia won by seven wickets
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WIS) and Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
TV umpire: Asad Rauf (PAK)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).
Copyright Reuters, 2011
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011