England versus Ireland, the first thing that comes into the minds of the viewers is rivalry. One team has cricket as its national sport, other considered underdogs for the encounter as
an ICC associate team. Who could have thought that the underdogs would defeat the Englishmen in one of the most remarkable and record breaking run chase of 328 runs at Bangalore.
England won the toss and chose to bat first on a track that is considered paradise for the batsmen. As expected of them, England was off to a great start. They completed the 50 runs stand
in 7.5 overs and at the end of the first powerplay; England was 72 runs without any loss of a wicket.
The fist English wicket fell at 91 runs. It was Andrew Strauss, the star batsmen from the previous English game. He got eager to hit the ball and dragged one onto his stumps on the bowling
of George Dockrell. He made a total of 34 runs. Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott continued with the aggressive batting display, showing master class in their performance.
Pietersen completed his half century but unfortunate for him, he could not reach the 100 runs mark once again in a long time and gave it away after making 59 runs to Paul Stirling. Ian
Bell succeeded Pietersen and complimented the foundation laid by him promisingly.
Bell and Trott, both batted superbly. They rotated the strike well and hit the Irishmen all along the park. England was well placed on 278 for 2 in 42.6 overs when Bell became the first
victim of John Mooney. He made a total of 81 runs.
Moments later, in order to improvise, Trott could not defend a delivery from Mooney and it went through his defences. He fell 8 short of his century. Paul Collingwood made a total of 16
until he also could not dispatch the ball to the boundary and was caught once again on the bowling of Mooney.
Trent Johnston also supported the great bowling display by Mooney at the death overs. He picked up two wickets to close the books for England at a total of 327 in 50 overs with the loss
of 8 wickets.
Mooney ended up with great figures of 9 overs 63 runs and picked up 4 wickets.
In reply Ireland was off to a poor start. They lost their first wicket on the very first ball of the Innings. It was the captain William Porterfield who inside edged a ball from James
Anderson right onto his stumps. Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce put up a 62 runs stand to give Ireland some hope.
Their little cameo ended when Stirling, who was looking very dangerous got caught by Pietersen while trying to pull a delivery by Tim Bresnan. Niall O’Brian showed some great promise in
his innings of 29 runs until he was undone by a beauty from Graeme Swann which broke his stumps. Ed Joyce was looking well settled for his 32 runs but unfortunate for him, got stumped on the bowling of Swann.
Gary Wilson could not contribute much to the Irish innings and got an LBW to Swann after making only 3 runs. With the fall of this wicket, everything was under England’s control. Ireland
was 111 for 5 in 24.2 overs.
The fate of the Irishmen changed when Kevin O’Brian entered the field. He slashed hard at almost every ball and it got him massive runs. He got perfect support that held one end for him
by Alex Cusack. Kevin O’Brian, once felt good at the crease took the batting power play to come close to the English target and the Irish supporters suddenly went alive. They took the powerplay in the 32nd over. This power play helped Ireland achieve
62 more runs to their total without a loss of any wicket.
Kevin O’Brian achieved his dazzling knock of 100 runs considerably the knock of this World Cup in just 50 balls. When the Irish total reached 273, they lost the crucial wicket of Cusack.
He made a total of 47 runs.
He was succeeded by John Mooney who started to take the role of the aggressor while facing most of the deliveries while he was at the crease. Just when Ireland was so close to the total
at 317 in 48 overs, Kevin O’Brian got run out. He played an outstanding knock of 113 runs.
The wicket of O’Brian so late in the innings now made no difference as Mooney finished things up for the Irishmen. Finally Ireland achieved the total of 329 runs in 49.1 overs with three
wickets remaining.
Mooney remained unbeaten on 33 while Johnston on 7 runs.
Swann was the pick of the bowlers for England for his outstanding figures of 10 overs 47 runs and 3 wickets. Kevin O’Brian was awarded the Man of the Match for his alluring performance
with the bat that lead to the victory of Ireland over England.
Now that England lost a match to the minnows, it must have shattered their confidence pretty bad after a record chase the other night against India that resulted in a tie. Will England
be able to fight back and progress into the second stage of the World Cup 2011? Only time will tell.