It was a world cup match, it was between England and Ireland and once again it was Ireland who stunned one of the tournament’s favourites.
In the first match of today, Ireland beat England by 5 runs. It was a rain-affected match as England couldn’t bat the full 20 overs and it started raining incessantly when it was the 15th over of England’s innings.
It was the second upset done by Ireland as they eliminated two times Champions West Indies from the tournament previously.
England was 5 wickets down with 53 runs required in 33 balls. No ball could be bowled after that and the match was awarded to Ireland.
Ireland set the total of 157 by batting first. England could only score 105 in 14.3 overs when the D/L target was 110. It brought back memories of the historic day for England at MA Chidambaram stadium, Bengaluru in the 2011 worked cup. Kevin O’Brien was the hero of that match and now Ireland had found new heroes in a historic victory over their neighbours.
England has never beaten a European team in the World Cup.
Ireland batting
Learning from the previous match against Sri Lanka, Ireland tried to play with positive intent. Right from the start, they were looking for runs and gaps. Stirling hit Woakes over extra cover then hit Wood on the third-man boundary. However, he couldn’t last kong and got out trying to play the similar shot again only to hand it to Sam Curran on Wood’s 150 kph express delivery.
At one down came Lorcan Tucker, who stabilized the Irish innings along with captain Balbirnie. He continued his stroke play and both he and Balbirnie hit Wood and Woakes quite well on this good pitch. After the conclusion of the powerplay, Ireland was 59 for 1.
As Harry Tector joined the captain Balbirnie, English skipper Buttler quickly handed them over to his main man, Wood. Wood also returned the favour by sending Tector back to the pavilion on duck. Wood then hit Campher and Delany on the helmet.
Now it was Livingstone’s turn to take wickets. He sent the top scorer Balbirnie first and Dockrell immediately after that on a yorker. Ireland was looking comfortably to score 180. However, from 132 for 3, Ireland bundled up at 157 without even completing the overs.
England’s Inning
The ball was moving a bit and Ireland’s seamer Josh Little took full advantage of it. He sent the dangerman Buttler packing on duck. Then he troubled Alex Hales on fuller deliveries and soon he was out on the score of 7. Malan was facing trouble and played quite slow.
Little is a new star in making for Ireland, He has also performed in the domestic leagues like the Hundred (Manchester Originals), and the Lanka Premier League (Dambulla Giants). He was also a net bowler for CSK in IPL.
Ireland dropped a few catches, two being in the same over of McCarthy. However, Mccarthy got third time lucky when Malan got out while trying to pull him. He scored 35 off 37 balls. Soon Harry Brook was in the dugout to depart on just 5.
Now, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone were on the crease and England still required 72 off 41. Moeen was unfazed by the pressure and he went into attacking mode hitting 3 fours and a six. When it started to downpour, Moeen was 24* off just 12. But the rain never stopped after that and created history for the Irish team.
Skipper Balbirnie was declared the player of the match.
