Match Report: Ireland Dent England’s Qualification Hopes with Historic Win

Ireland recorded a record-breaking win defeating England by five runs in dramatic rain-effected circumstances at MCG.

Captain Andrew Balbirnie spearheaded the famous win with 62 from 47 balls in the first innings. Josh Little followed up with 2-16 from three overs to secure the win.

The players left the field for the final rain stoppage with England 105-5 from 14.3 overs in the pursuit of Ireland’s 157.

With England sat five runs shy of the DLS par, Ireland took the spoils in group one in the T20 World Cup.

An unchanged England team from their previous win over Afghanistan elected to bowl first in just the second ever T20 meeting between the two sides.

After rain delays early in the match, Ireland’s innings began in a stop-start manner although no overs were lost.

Ireland, looking to bounce back from their opening defeat in the super 12s started the first innings strongly; ending the powerplay 59 for one. The sole wicket coming with Mark Wood dismissing the dangerous power hitter Paul Sterling(14).

Ireland sat on 92-1 at their halfway stage after picking Chris Woakes for 18 in the 10th over.

A hint of misfortune brought Ireland’s 82-run partnership to an end when Lorcan Tucker was ran out backing up off the bowling of Adil Rashid for 34.

Balbirnie anchored the innings until the 16th over until he eventually fell for a well made 62, his first half century of the competition.

Mark Wood’s pace had been the talk of the tournament prior to this match, that played a double-edged sword as he went at the expense of 34 from his four overs with plenty of runs flying from the batters’ edges.

The Durham quick’s three wickets peaking at 95 miles per hour would be the more valuable statistic from Wood’s bowling innings.

Ireland’s quick start couldn’t be replicated throughout the full 20 overs. A respectable 157 total but plaudits went to England late in the innings, taking the final seven wickets for just 25 runs in 30 balls.

Liam Livingstone returned his best ever international bowling figures with 3-17 backing up the pressure built by Rashid earlier in the innings.

Mirroring the first innings, it was Ireland who came out the blocks the stronger. Little finding Jos Buttler’s edge on just his second ball to remove him for a duck.

It was the underdogs’ powerplay to boast, Alex Hales(7) and Ben Stokes(6) dismissed by Little and Fionn Hand respectively restricted England to 37-3.

After an eventful first over from George Dockrell which included two dropped catches, Ireland broke a building partnership when Brook was caught in the deep for 18.

Dawid Malan(35), who struggled to get going in his 37-ball innings was the next victim of the regularly falling wickets. Barry McCarthy removed the world number six batter in the 14th over to limit England to 86-5.

With over 10 runs an over required in the final six, Ali reached 24 not out from 12 balls as he targeted Gareth Delaney prior to the final stoppage.