Ireland defeated Papa New Guinea by 41 runs to make a strong start in their bid to qualify for the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup.

Orla Prendergast’s 56 helped Ireland to 146 and Papa New Guinea could not come close on the return.

Arlene Kelly took two wickets to limit PNG to 105, and Ireland’s focus will now turn to their second qualifier with the USA on Thursday.

The top three teams from each group will qualify for the Super Sixes, and the top four teams will then progress to the finals in England in June.

Ireland won the toss and elected to bat first, and although Sarah Forbes was dismissed on six, 42 from captain Gaby Lewis and Prendergast’s half-century put Ireland in a strong position.

Leah Paul was out for 16 and Prendergast was eventually dismissed on 56 by Hane Tau with Ireland on 125-4 in the 17th over.

Ireland lost Laura Delany and Rebecca Stokell in the final over, but still recorded a solid score of 146.

Lloyd Tennant’s side limited Papa New Guinea’s response to 56-4 as Hollan Doriga, Konio Oala, captain Brenda Tau and Pauka Siaka were all dismissed.

With PNG’s top order out of the picture, Ireland had enough in hand to take a comfortable victory.

It was also an impressive bowling performance from player of the match Prendergast, who only conceded nine runs from four overs.

“It was a nice start to the tournament,” said Prendergast.

“We set a really competitive target and thankfully we backed it up with the ball”.