Australia skipper Aaron Finch suffered an injury scare when he sustained a hamstring strain en route to his scintillating fifty that set up the defending champion’s 42-run win over Ireland in the T20 World Cup, in Brisbane on Monday. Finch slammed a 44-ball 63 but looked to be struggling while running between the wickets in the later part of his sensational knock as Australia posted 179 for 5. The 35-year-old, who had suffered a hamstring injury in 2016 as well, left the field early during Ireland’s chase, which ended at 137 all out in 18.1 overs.

“Really a hammy twinge I think, I will get a scan tomorrow, I have a history of them. It doesn’t look bad at the moment but let’s see how it goes after the scan,” said Finch during the post-match presentation.

Singapore-born all-rounder Tim David also spent the entire Ireland innings off the field but Finch said it was “just a bit of hammy tightness, that was more precaution than anything.” Finch, who was adjudged the Player-of-the-Match, said it was a difficult track to bat but he was happy that the team could post a good score.

“It was a good performance. Getting 180 was a decent score on that wicket. We knew we had to lay the foundation early and couldn’t risk being 4-5 down.

“It wasn’t the easiest wicket, it was a lot slower than what we expected. They changed their pace really well and bowled a lot of cutters early in the innings, it was hard to get a rhythm and we did well to get 180,” he said.

Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie lauded Lorcan Tucker, who fought till the end with an unbeaten 71 off 48 balls but lacked support from the other end.

“The first innings got away, we bowled well but a couple of overs didn’t go our way and certainly didn’t get the start with the bat, but to show the fight at the end was nice,” he said.

“Looking at the scoreboard we thought it wasn’t against us, again the wickets column was a problem and who knows if someone had stayed with Tucker. He has had a really good World Cup and these wickets here suit him.” By virtue of this win, Australia, with five points from four games, jumped to second spot in Group 1 ahead of England to be in the reckoning for a semifinal spot. New Zealand are leading the group.

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Australia will take on Afghanistan in their last group game on Friday in Adelaide.

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