Rain washes off game after Lee burst

Brett Lee’s hopes of becoming the leading wicket-taker for Australia in ODIs were dashed by rain which abandoned the game against Ireland, after the Aussie speedster had struck twice in his opening over.

There were predictions of a wash-out even before the game had started and the inspections began as early as 6 am local time. Rain was kind to stay away for a major part of the morning and at 10 in the morning, it was decided to start the match at 1130 am.

Australian captain Michael Clarke called correctly and chose to bowl, given the predicted rain and Duckworth/Lewis possibility. Brett Lee stuck first ball to clean up Ireland skipper William Porterfield with a beauty and two balls later, got through the defenses of Ed Joyce.

Paul Stirling and Niall O’Brien got some quick runs before Clarke pouched a stinger at first slip to get rid of the dangerous Stirling. After that, the heavens opened up and the players were forced to go indoors.

Have a look at the scorecard.

Rain played hide-and-seek and when the final inspection was done at 4 pm local time, though the rain had stopped, the outfield was too sluggish to play and the game was abandoned.

In the match that happened, Australia earned a Castrol Index of 19 to Ireland’s 6.

Brett Lee finished with a Castrol Index of 49 while Ireland’ best bet was Paul Stirling with 11 points. This was of course, in the 10.4 overs that were bowled.

Australia now get ready for a 5-ODI series against England beginning at Lord’s on Friday, 29th June, 2012 at 0945 GMT.