T20 World Cup: Andrew Balbirnie proves fitness as Ireland beat Papua New Guinea

Andrew Balbirnie retired hurt after a delivery hit his toes in Sunday's defeat by the United Arab Emirates but X-rays revealed that the injury was just bruising

Andrew Balbirnie recovered from his weekend injury scare to help Ireland beat Papua New Guinea by eight wickets in a Men's T20 World Cup warm-up game.

The Ireland captain took a blow to three toes from a delivery in Sunday's defeat by the United Arab Emirates.

X-rays later revealed just bruising and Balbirnie's unbeaten 42 helped Ireland reach their target of 97 in Abu Dhabi.

Irish all-rounder Curtis Campher was also unbeaten on 42 with Ben White and Craig Young both taking three wickets.

White finished with impressive bowling figures of 3-10 with Young almost as economical with his 3-15.

Ireland's tidy bowling effort restricted Papua New Guinea to 96-8 from their 20 overs and despite losing Kevin O'Brien (8) and Gareth Delany (5) cheaply in their reply, the knocks from Balbirnie and Campher saw the Irish earn a morale-boosting victory after losing the warm-up series against United Arab Emirates.

"My foot is fine, it's still not pain free, but certainly having a clear X-ray has been a great boost knowing that not much more damage can be done," said Balbirnie.

"I just have to remember, it's better to use your bat rather than your boot."

The Irish skipper praised his bowlers' efforts on what he described as a "slow, low and tired wicket".

"Our bowlers were very accurate throughout and executed their bowling plans well."

Ireland face Bangladesh in another warm-up game in Abu Dhabi on Thursday before beginning their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands in the same location on Monday.

After the Dutch opener, the Irish face group favourites Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi two days later before taking on Namibia in Sharjah on 22 October.