Ireland had the best of the first hour against a new-look England side in the RSA Challenge at Clontarf.

CAPTAIN William Porterfield rued the fact that Ireland did not put up a more imposing total as they went down to a five-wicket defeat to India in their World Cup Group B match in Bangalore yesterday.

AS Kevin O’Brien climbed into another six, and the Ireland cricket fans in the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore started to think of an improbable victory over England, Vanessa Johnston wafted through the supporters, spraying them with a stress-relieving potion.

IRELAND’S Kevin O’Brien hit the fastest hundred in Cricket World Cup history to sentence shell-shocked England to an astounding three-wicket defeat at Bangalore’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Ireland's Kevin O'Brien hit the fastest hundred in World Cup history to sentence shell-shocked England to an astounding three-wicket defeat at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium tonight.

CAPTAIN Andrew Strauss kept his cool to help England scrape an opening World Cup win over the Netherlands after enduring a “shemozzle” of a performance in the field.

ENGLAND shut out Australia’s bowlers for more than 10 hours in Brisbane, but are under orders to close the door much earlier in Adelaide.

EOIN MORGAN’S second Rose Bowl hundred of the summer helped England clinch the troubled NatWest Series 3-2 with a landslide 121-run victory over Pakistan.

EOIN MORGAN is likely to get the opportunity to boost his Ashes credentials against Pakistan this summer after England lost the services of Ian Bell for the series.

IRISH cricket star Eoin Morgan has been catapulted into the sport’s megastar bracket with a €150,000 deal to join the 2010 Indian Premier League.

Ashes winners England averted a shock defeat to see off Ireland by just three runs in their one-day international in Belfast today.

Andrew Flintoff was appropriately involved in the pivotal moment as England bowled out Australia to reclaim the Ashes at the Oval today.

ENGLAND are confident their surprise call-up of Warwickshire batsman Jonathan Trott for this week’s fourth Ashes Test will not backfire in a similar manner to last year’s shock selection for the Headingley Test.