England beat Ireland on D/L method

Match Report - Only ODI: Ireland v England, Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin, 25 August 2011

England played a one-off ODI in Ireland today and edged past the hosts in a rain affected encounter. The game served as good practice for England ahead of their ODI series against India.

Eoin Morgan was captaining England, for the first time, and that too against his former teammates. William Porterfield won the toss and opted to field first. Ireland was without Trent Johnston, while Ben Stokes, James Taylor and Scott Borthwick made debuts for England.

After a delayed start due to rain, England lost Kieswetter and James Taylor by the score of 34. Rain again stopped play for more than an hour, and when it resumed Morgan and Jonathan Trott played solidly to knit together a 102 run partnership. Morgan was the aggressor, and Ireland celebrated wholeheartedly when Paul Stirling took a stunning return catch.

Morgan’s innings of 59 in 65 balls included 6 fours and a six. England lost the way as they continued to lose wickets regularly. Only Trott held the innings together, but he departed for 69 off 105 balls just when the late onslaught was needed.

England finished with 201 for 8 after 42 overs, the revised overs limit. John Mooney took 3 for 32 in his allotted 7 overs. The target was not a stiff one, but the rain was around the corner to spoil the show.

Ireland needed a good start but English bowlers bowled impressively taking wickets at regular intervals. The chase never took off as no one in the Irish batting line up batted long enough to challenge England.

Steven Finn removed the openers, while O’Brien brothers fell victim to Jade Dernbach. Another long rain break meant revised target for Ireland. At 42 for 2 after 13 overs, they were set 129 in 23 overs which meant they still needed 87 in the 10 overs left.

Despite losing wickets, Ireland continued to go for the target and fell just 11 runs shy when the overs finished. Kevin O’Brien threatened by playing a cameo of 26 in 15 balls with 2 fours and same number of sixes, but Dernbach castled him with a lovely fast yorker.

With 23 needed off 12 balls, Smit Patel bowled a tight penultimate over giving away just 4 runs. Ireland made 117 for 8 and lost the match by 11 runs. Dernbach took 3 for 30, but Morgan was named player of the match.

Summarised Scores:

England 211/8 in 42 overs (Trott 69, Morgan 59; Mooney 3/32) beat Ireland 117/8 in 23 overs (K O’Brien 26, Dernbach 3/30) by D/L method

Man of the Match: Eoin Morgan