Ireland 157 (19.2 ovs) (A Balbirnie 62, L Tucker 34; L Livingstone 3-17, M Wood 3-34, S Curran 2-31) beat England 105-5 (14.3 ovs) (D Malan 35M Ali 24no, H Brook 18; J Little 2-16) by 5 runs (D/L)
The fortunes of 2010 have been reversed.
Then, Ireland vs England was rained off at the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean with Ireland hunting an upset — no result was possible. This time at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, England fell foul of the rain as Ireland secured a five-run win on DLS to reignite their Super 12 campaign and put England’s campaign on the brink with no margin for error.
With 14.3 overs on the board and England five short of where they needed to be if the rain came, the Melbourne skies opened. Two more balls could well have seen them reach the required margin. Instead, Ireland celebrate their third win of the tournament.
After losing the toss and being asked to bat, an innings that showed so much promise ended up falling apart as England — through Sam Curran in particular — displayed a devastating streak in the death overs. Mark Wood, their much-vaunted pace threat bowling at rapid speeds, was destructive with three wickets, those of Paul Stirling, Harry Tector and Curtis Campher, but still cost 34 runs as Stirling, Balbirnie, Campher and Gareth Delany all found the ropes off him.
It was actually England’s third spinner, Liam Livingstone, who turned the game on its head. Ireland had lost two wickets in the space of three balls when Lorcan Tucker was cruelly run out at the non-striker’s end and Tector nicked off, but Balbirnie remained strong. Batting with Campher, spin was a brave option given both men’s strength off slower bowling.
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It looked the wrong call when Campher ramped the first ball to the rope, but three balls later it was a genius move. First Balbirnie swept straight to the fielder in the leg-side before George Dockrell was bowled by a surprise yorker first up.
It was a big blow given the way Ireland capitulated in the final overs — they missed their finisher badly.
Up to that point, the start was excellent. After the early loss of Stirling, Tucker and Balbirnie combined for 82, Ireland’s ‘keeper playing the shot of the innings when charging at Curran and driving him beautifully straight down the ground. They targeted Chris Woakes in particular, hitting him out of the attack as his three overs went for 41.
Balbirnie brought up his 50 off 38 balls, his first in T20 World Cups, but his dismissal was ultimately part of a collapse of nine wickets for just 54 runs inside the final eight overs.
After Livingstone’s flurry of wickets, Curran was chief destroyer at the end as he castled both Barry McCarthy and Fionn Hand.
The poor start with the bat looked a lot better when England’s captain and best batter, Jos Buttler, nicked Josh Little behind first ball. Little returned an over later as Balbirnie kept on his strike bowler, inducing Alex Hales to cut hard to point where Delany dropped a sharp chance that burst his hands. The error wasn’t costly as next ball Hales skied one up behind him, Adair making no mistake.
Little and Adair both bowled two overs early, something Ireland don’t always do as Balbirnie looked to squeeze England early. No more wickets fell in their initial stint, Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes happy to see them off and not take risks.
Fionn Hand, playing in his first World Cup match, certainly looked to be a risky option with the field still up and his expensive start to international cricket. Even more so when his first ball swung down the leg side for a rank wide. Any critics were answered in emphatic fashion a ball later, Stokes beaten all ends up by one that swung between bat and pad on to his stumps.
England looked to rebuild with Malan and Harry Brook. They didn’t take any risks until Balbirnie turned to Dockrell. England immediately targeted him, and it should have paid off for Ireland. On back-to-back balls, Brook was dropped by Adair and Malan by Delany, huge moments that looked costly for Ireland. That was until Dockrell finally had better luck, Delany holding the hardest chance yet in the deep to see the back of Brook.
Fortunately for Ireland, the drop didn’t prove too costly. Malan added just 12 more runs before top-edging McCarthy into the deep, Hand taking a good catch running to his right.
The crucial over looked to be the 15th. With Moeen Ali on strike, Balbirnie went to his spinner, Delany. It was a risky ploy given Ali’s strength against spin.
Ball one disappeared over long-on for six. Ball two was carved away for two. Ball three saw another boundary, this time along the ground through the off-side. All of a sudden, England needed just five runs to match where they needed to be with the Melbourne clouds darkening.
Two more balls could have done the trick, only they didn’t come. The heavens opened just enough for the umpires to call the game off and once the decision was made to call it a day, a famous night in Melbourne was secured.
