DJ Carey and Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting at Croke Park.

Australia’s cricket stars have tried their hands at hurling on the hallowed ground of Croke Park ahead of their one-day international (ODI) clash with Ireland in Dublin which will be screened live tonight on Setanta Sports from 7.30pm.

Under the watchful eye of hurling legend DJ Carey, the Aussies embraced the chance to try the Irish national game on the eve of their one day international against Ireland at Clontarf.

The Gowran man was impressed with how quickly the Australians adapted to the camán and sliotar.

“They can certainly adapt, they’re big guys,” he told The Irish Times.

“They’re very athletic and the eye-hand coordination is there. They were catching balls way up in the sky. It takes a bit of time obviously, but there’s not a million miles between both sports.”

Fittingly, the ad hoc hurling trial took place in the shadow of the Cusack Stand: the founding father of the GAA was a keen cricketer in his younger days and a member of Blackrock College Cricket Club during his time teaching at the south Dublin school in the 1870s.

The big-hitting Cameron White looked the most natural of the visiting team, while former demon fast bowler and present Australian selector Merv Hughes refused to give up until he was clattering over points into the Davin Stand like DJ in his heyday.

Carey admits to being a keen fan of limited overs cricket, even if Test matches are beyond his endurance.

It was the Australians’ second visit to Croke Park in 24 hours after the squad took in the Leinster SFC clash between Dublin and Wexford. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has followed the International Rules series in the past and enjoyed the experience.

“It was a pretty exciting game. Dublin were outplayed totally in the first half and came back and finished off the game very well in the second half,” said Ponting, before turning his attention to tonight’s One-Day International at Castle Avenue.

“Ireland will be doing everything they can to serve it up to us and do their best to beat Australia. It’s a great challenge for them.

“For us, we just have to make sure we look after everything we can over the next few days and make sure we play well on Thursday,” he said.