Australia all-rounder James Hopes admitted his side 'got out of jail' after it survived a fright before beating Ireland by 39 runs in its tour-opening one-day international in Dublin on Thursday.
After Tim Paine's 81 anchored a rusty Australian batting display that yielded 9-231, the Irish had looked on course for a memorable first win over the world champion following a flying start to their chase.
Skipper William Porterfield and Paul Stirling smashed the Australian new-ball bowlers to all parts of the picturesque Clontarf Cricket Club ground in an opening stand worth 80 from 11 overs.
But the Australians, playing their first ODI since the tour of New Zealand in March, fought back and led by Hopes' career-best figures of 5-14 bowled out Ireland for 192 from 42 overs.
"When we turned up today we knew there was a good chance that Ireland were going to come out and give us a good run," Hopes said.
"We hadn't played any one-day cricket for a while, since New Zealand, and we got off to a sluggish start."
"Fortunately we brought it back in the middle overs and you could look at it that we got out of jail."
Hopes ripped through the Ireland middle order to effectively end its hopes in a stunning spell of seam bowling.
The Queenslander said he had been able to profit on a slow-paced wicket that reminded him of his home surfaces in Brisbane.
"It was very much like Brisbane plays in a first-class game," he added.
"It's low and it seams around a bit, and we knew if we hit the right areas it was going to be hard to score."
"But in saying that, they got off to a blistering start and they were in a position to put us away, and we were fortunate to get out."
Australia's scare came just 10 months after the Irish also ran England close before losing by three runs in Belfast last August.
Aside from those one-off matches Ireland gets little opportunity to play established nations outside ICC global tournaments, and Hopes believes the time may be right for that to change.
"Every time they play a full member country they're not disgracing themselves, they're putting on a good show and giving teams a good run," he added.
"I think for them to get better they're going to have to play the bigger teams more than every four years at the ICC [World Cup]. But they're going well and it's a slow process: if you go back 30 years you had Sri Lanka who struggled for 15 years before coming through."
"The ICC is learning from that and they're going to give the Irish every chance to establish themselves before they throw them to the dogs."
Ireland skipper Porterfield said his side had been left disappointed after failing to grasp its chance to beat the world champion.
"We had them right on the back foot. It was ours to lose and we let it slip," he said.
"It's pretty disappointing from the position we were in, especially after the first 10-12 overs."
"We were way ahead of the game from what we needed from then on in with 10 wickets in hand. So it is pretty disappointing."
"We took the game to them. We definitely put them under pressure."
The 25-year-old opener was also hopeful another close encounter with one of cricket's heavy hitters would persuade other nations to