Stunned Strauss’ tribute to ‘outstanding’ Irish

ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss will have questions to pose and answer before England take on South Africa in Chennai on Sunday in what has become a must-win match.

But before then, he could not help but pay tribute to one of the best performances in the history of one-day international cricket by Ireland and their centurion Kevin O’Brien.

“It was an outstanding innings— the gall he showed to take the game to us in that situation,” said Strauss.

“He rescued them from a pretty perilous position to one where they were up with the rate and just needed to keep their heads in the end. It was a bit of a shock to us, and I’m bitterly disappointed because we did a lot of things badly in the field again.”

Strauss was aware of Ireland’s firepower down the order, but did not see such a sustained assault coming.

He added: “I thought we were in a great position to win the game. We knew they had some dangerous hitters in the back-end of their order — but with the rate climbing as much as it was, it seemed if we could stay patient we would pick up wickets.”

Meanwhile Ireland captain William Porterfield, who was dismissed first ball in his side's reply by James Anderson, hailed the victory as their greatest ever win.

“It’s got to be the greatest, pretty much the greatest days of our lives so far,” he said. “Credit to the lads, they kept believing. We’ll be looking to put in a performance like that every game.”