Women’s T20 World Cup: Ireland struggle in opening defeat to England

T20 World Cup: England (107-6, 14.2 overs) (Alice Capsey 51 off 22; Cara Murray 3-15) beat Ireland (105 all out, 18.2 overs) (Gaby Lewis 36; Sophie Ecclestone 3-13) by four wickets.

A game that started with such promise for Ireland descended into a resounding loss as Laura Delany’s side succumbed to a four-wicket defeat to England in their T20 World Cup opener in South Africa.

[ ‘We want to take it on’ - Prendergast and Ireland embracing expectation ahead of T20 World Cup ]

The cynical view of this Irish side is that if their top three in the batting line-up don’t fire, they will struggle to post match-winning scores. If last week’s warm-up win over Australia quelled such thinking, it reared its worrying head on Monday in Paarl.

Despite a strong start from Amy Hunter and Gaby Lewis atop the order, England’s spinners fought back to take control and take their side to a winning position. Eight of the 10 Irish wickets fell to slow bowling on a turning pitch, England bowling them out for 105 with 10 deliveries left in the innings.

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In response, Orla Prendergast’s early strike served only to bring Alice Capsey to the crease. England’s bright young star, aged just 18, dispatched all Ireland had to throw at her, hitting 51 off 22 balls including 11 boundaries to get England off to a rapid start that put the game to bed.

Ireland’s intent from the start of the match was to be admired, Lewis, who survived an early drop, finding the rope twice in Lauren Bell’s opening over while Amy Hunter followed suit off Katherine Sciver-Brunt with a pair of gorgeous drives through cover and mid off.

England knew this pitch given they played on it during their tournament opener on Saturday. They responded to Ireland’s early aggression by immediately going to spin, Sophie Ecclestone bowling the third over with Charlie Dean following behind her. The latter earned England’s breakthrough, Hunter holing out to the bigger leg side boundary in the sixth.

Still, at 42-1, Ireland would have taken that score after the powerplay. Prendergast looked good to start with when driving Dean strongly against the spin through extra cover, only to have her stumps disturbed after dancing down the track to Sarah Glenn.

Lewis was Ireland’s key and looked to take her innings deep, slowing down after her fast start. When she did reapply the foot to the accelerator, she too picked out a fielder in the deep when trying to target the longer square boundary.

By contrast, Louise Little took on Dean down the ground, hitting Ireland’s lone six – albeit she did depart a ball later when trying to repeat the dose.

In between those dismissals, Ireland could only reach 67-2 at the midway point of their innings despite their fast start.

England got their plans spot on, targeting the middle order with spin as Richardson, Waldron and Paul all departed after missing sweeps. England’s premier spinner, Ecclestone, outlined her dominance with a double-wicket maiden in the 13th over.

After Ireland’s quiet end to their innings, England came out with intent to quell any hopes of an unlikely victory. Sophia Dunkley drove Prendergast straight to mid-on but from there Capsey took over. Her strokes down the ground got her going early doors, her boundary hitting relentless and highlighted by a huge six over the long boundary. The fun only ended when she picked out long off off the bowling of Kelly, Leah Paul taking a good catch.

Ireland did take a further scalp when a mix-up between Wyatt and Nat Sciver-Brunt saw the former run out, while Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight and Amy Jones were dismissed by Cara Murray in a welcome return to form for Ireland’s leg-spinner. Despite the late wobble, England saw themselves home when Katherine Sciver-Brunt hit the winning boundary in the 15th over.

Ireland’s next outing is against Pakistan in Cape Town on Wednesday.