English avoid repeat Irish upset

IRELAND’S cricketers suffered an 11-run defeat to England in yesterday’s RSA Challenge one-day-international in Dublin.

William Porterfield’s men were thwarted by three rain breaks during the course of the day, bringing into play the Duckworth-Lewis method, a statistical programme that revises the target score.

It eventually required Ireland to score 129 off 23 overs, a task that was beyond the means even of Kevin O’Brien, despite the Railway Union all-rounder briefly threatening to repeat his match-winnings innings of Bangalore.

O’Brien famously hit 113 in 63 balls in that World Cup game in India between the two sides in March, and it looked like a sequel could be on the cards when he hit two massive sixes off England leg-spinner Scott Borthwick. However, O’Brien was then bowled by Jade Dernbach for 26 off 15 balls, and Ireland’s faint hopes of another famous victory went with him.

Ireland skipper Porterfield acknowledged that the repeated interruptions for rain did his side no favours.

“We were first going out for 28 overs, then for 23 overs,” he said. “It was unfortunate that it was so stop-start. It would have been nice to get a full game in.”

England’s total of 201-8 from 42 overs was dependent on a stand of 102 for the third wicket. Ironically, this crucial 20-over passage of play happened without an Englishman on the field, as Dublin-born England captain Eoin Morgan and South African import Jonathan Trott piled on the runs.

Morgan played 23 one-day internationals for Ireland before switching to play for England in 2009, and was met with a warm reception from the 5,000 capacity crowd at Clontarf as he came out to bat.

This being Dublin, however, affection was soon replaced by banter, as the stadium tannoy greeted the first four of Morgan’s innings with a burst of Shania Twain’s ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much.’ The England skipper soon made the DJ regret her insouciance, with a stylish and unhurried man-of-the-match innings of 59 in 66 balls, before he fell to a sharp Paul Stirling caught and bowled.

Trott accumulated 69 in 105 balls before he was caught by Nigel Jones off the bowling of Mooney in the 40th over. However, Borthwick and Chris Woakes clattered some crucial late runs in the final overs to lift the score past the 200-mark.

North County all-rounder Mooney was the pick of the Ireland attack, dismissing Trott, Craig Kieswetter and Borthwick in seven high-octane overs, and bowling as if he took the Three Lions on the shirts of the visitors as a personal affront to his Irishness.

However, England captain Morgan was also impressed by the performances of Stirling (2-46) and Jones, who finished with match figures of 2-32 off nine overs.

“Jones was tricky to get away, bowling that fuller length, and Stirling’s spell of bowling stopped us getting a lot more,” he said.

The 24-year-old paid tribute to the improvements that Ireland have made, but still feels that his former team-mates have a way to go to join the top table of cricketing nations.

“They haven’t earned the right to necessarily demand (one-day games against full member countries),” he said.

“But I think they need them in order to improve their cricket. They have showed over a number of years that they are an exceptional associate nation, and they certainly need to play more Test playing nations.”