Australia bowl after winning toss

Brett Lee bowled Ireland captain William Porterfield with the first ball of the match.

Brett Lee took two wickets in his first three deliveries and a fantastic catch from Michael Clarke helped Australia further reduce Ireland to 36 for 3 before the rain returned to disrupt the one-off ODI between the two sides at Stormont in Belfast.

Australia's captain, Clarke, won the toss and sent Ireland in to bat after a 45-minute delay to the scheduled start. The ground had recovered well from heavy pre-match rain, allowing the match to get underway at 11.30am local time, without a reduction on the allotted 50 overs a side.

The tourists made four changes from the team that accounted for Leicestershire in their opening match of the tour, a minor muscle strain ruling out George Bailey and allowing Peter Forrest to come in. The pace attack was reshuffled entirely, Lee, Pat Cummins and Ben Hilfenhaus for Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson and Clint McKay.

Ireland opened up with Paul Stirling and Will Porterfield at the top of the order, the same combination that gave Australia a fright the last time these two sides met in 2010, while Tim Murtagh was handed an expected debut.

Ireland 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Will Porterfield (capt), 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O'Brien (wk), 5 Gary Wilson, 6 Kevin O'Brien, 7 Alex Cusack, 8 John Mooney, 9 Trent Johnston, 10 George Dockrell, 11 Tim Murtagh.

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 David Hussey, 6 Peter Forrest, 7 Steve Smith, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Xavier Doherty.