Thu, 25 Aug 2011 - Ireland vs England, England Tour of Ireland 2011, Only ODI - Bulletin

England prevail in rain affected game

The much anticipated one off ODI between England and Ireland was marred by rain with play being interrupted a number of times, in the end, England won by 12 runs after Ireland were given a revised target of 129 in 23 overs. For the visitors, Eoin Morgan shined in his first outing as a captain with a fluent fifty, Jonathan Trott also made a typical workman like half-century that took England to 201 in 42 overs.

With rain expected to further truncate the innings, Ireland needed a good start to keep themselves ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis target. Ed Joyce began with a four in the very first over, his partner Paul Stirling also got off the mark with a six over the covers. But, he tried to hit one too many out of the park and was caught by Bopara off an edge for 6. Like the Irish seamers, the duo of Steven Finn and Chris Woakes was a handful, not allowing the batsmen any liberty to score runs quickly. Ed Joyce became Finn’s second victim in the 8th over, Ireland were in a spot of bother at 24 for 2.

Ireland had stumbled to 42 for 2, when skies opened up once again in the ill-fated 13th over. Intermittent showers meant that Ireland were set a revised target of 129 in 23 overs, 87 more were needed in 10 overs, a T20 style finish was very much on the cards.

Skipper Porterfield was run-out straightaway after play resumed and in came Kevin O’Brien, the man who was Ireland’s hero in the World Cup victory over the same opponents at Bangalore earlier this year. And, it took him just three balls to announce his arrival- leggie Borthwick was clobbered for two consecutive sixes. The debutant tasted the ups and downs of international cricket in his very first over; despite a run-out the over cost 13. One more boundary by Kevin in the next over reduced the equation to 63 from 42 deliveries.

However, Ireland wickets at crucial junctures including that of Kevin O’Brien as the chase began to falter. Jade Dernbach started the 18th over with Kevin O’Brien on the strike, the first ball- a slower one was helped on its way for a four; the next two deliveries resulted in two singles and he bowled a perfect yorker to clean up the danger man on the fourth ball. With it, Ireland’s hopes of overhauling the revised target were gone, even though there were a couple of valiant attempts by Wilson and Mooney towards the end. Eventually, they could only manage 117 for 8 in the 23 overs, thus England under Eoin Morgan secured a win in the Irish rain.

Earlier, Ireland after putting in England on a damp morning bowled in good areas to keep them in-check even as Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan scored half-centuries. England lost wickets at regular intervals; they reached 201 runs at the end of 42 overs.

After the early showers that delayed toss for a little while, the pitch offered help to the Irish seamers. As a result, the England openers struggled to get the score board moving at the start. Craig Kieswetter who usually plays the aggressor up front was beaten many times before being dismissed for 14, which included a top-edge six. One of the three debutants for England in this game, James Taylor failed to impress and mistimed a pull to be caught at mid-wicket for 1. Soon after, the weather gods intervened in the 13th over with England wobbling at 38 for 2.

More than an hour was lost before play could restart due to which the match was curtailed to 42 overs a side. After the rain break, Eoin Morgan came out with a positive intent as the scoring rate started to pick up. Although, Trott continued to be slow at the other end, Morgan’s busy approach meant England reached 100 in the 24th over. The left-hander was the first one to reach his half-century; Trott also achieved the milestone a little later. The two had lifted England to 136 with a 102 run partnership when Paul Stirling pulled off a spectacular catch off his own bowling to remove Morgan for a 65-ball 59, the innings was laced six boundaries and a six.

Ravi Bopara and Ben Stokes didn’t trouble the scorers much as England slipped to 148 for 5, having lost three wickets for 12 runs in a matter of 19 deliveries. Trott’s strategy of holding up one end even in the later stages left the new batsmen with one option but attack from the word go. With the ball doing a bit, that was not an easy thing to do as found out by Bopara and Stokes.

Samit Patel, Chris Woakes and Scott Borthwick hit useful cameos down the order as England barely managed to cross 200 in the allotted 42 overs. Trott was dismissed for 69 but he ate up 105 balls for the same.