The Irish cricketers have beaten England by five runs at the T20 World Cup in Melbourne.
11 years after their famous victory in Bangalore, in a shock of similarly seismic proportions, the Irish cricketers have done it again. They’ve beaten England at the cricket World Cup.
They were helped along the way by some timely showers, which interrupted the play, and left England behind their Duckworth–Lewis–Stern target. Before we go any further, just in case we’ve lost you, we’ll explain that one for the sunshine-supporters first.
The DLS rate is a target score for a team batting second in a weather interrupted cricket match and, luckily for Ireland on this occasion, just as England were threatening the target, the Australian heavens opened and the game was over.
There was only a small Irish crowd present to witness the events but they made their presence felt, chanting ‘are you Scotland in disguise?’ at the English team.
The Ireland fans at the MCG are singing "are you Scotland in disguise?" at England…#T20World Cup #IREvENG #BBCCricket
— Matthew Henry (@MattyHenry19) October 26, 2022
None-the-less, this was a fantastic display from an Irish team who have rounded into form at the perfect time. Batting first, Ireland returned a steady 157 from 19.2 overs, with captain Andrew Balbirnie leading the way with 62 off 47 balls. Lorcan Tucker also played a huge part, the Dubliner managing 35 off 27 while 22-year-old Josh Little bowled like a gem.
Balbirnie’s dismissal did signal a downturn in fortunes of the Irish team, however, and it was worrying when they lost their seven wickets in 24 deliveries, but England were off-form too, as their bowler Mark Wood said after the game.
“It doesn’t have to be the number one team in the world, it can be any team. We were off, they were on and they deserved to win,” he said.
The win has a huge impact on this Super 12s group, with England now needing to win their last three games to finish in the top two. Ireland, meanwhile, are back in action on Friday, when they take on Afghanistan.
