Southampton: Ireland once again surprised everyone by defeating England by 7 wickets in the third and last ODI match played at The Ages Bowl. England set a mammoth 329 target in front of Ireland with the help of captain Eoin Morgan (106). Ireland probably loves this figure because it has touched this figure against England on the second turn.
In this match played on Tuesday night, Ireland lost this target one ball earlier by losing 3 wickets and was reminiscent of the 2011 World Cup. In that match, England had scored 327 runs and Ireland scored 329 runs and scored their first victory against England. The hero of that match was Kevin O’Brien, who scored a winning run in this match and finally added 50 runs in 5.2 overs with Harry Taker giving the team a historic win. The foundation of this victory, however, was laid by opener Paul Sterling and captain Andy Balbarney.
These two laid the foundation of achieving Ireland’s target by sharing 214 runs for the second wicket. Starling scored 142 runs in 128 balls, including 9 fours and six sixes. Balbarney faced 112 balls and scored 113 runs. He hit 12 fours in his innings. In front of a huge target, Ireland lost the wicket of Gareth Delaney (12) on a total score of 50, which was dismissed by David Wiley. From here Starling and Balbarney scored fast runs and kept the team on the path of victory.
As this partnership continued to grow, so did England’s troubles. Starling was run out on a total score of 264 and Balbarney also returned to the pavilion on a total score of 279. England felt that she had returned in the match but Kevin and Tector scored an unbeaten innings of 21 and 29 runs respectively to give the team a historic win. With this victory, Ireland ended the series with a happy ending. Although she had already lost the series after losing the initial 2 ODIs, she broke England’s dream of winning the series 3–0 in the last ODI.
England, playing on the first innings after Ireland were invited to bat, were able to score huge centuries on the century of captain Morgan and finally the innings of David Wiley and Tom Kuran. Jason Roy failed once again with the bat and scored a run and became a victim of Craig Young. Johnny Bairstow (4) and James Vince (16) were also out for a total of 44.
From here again Morgan and Tom Benton shared 146 runs for the fourth wicket. Morgan was dismissed for a total of 190. He faced 84 balls and hit 15 fours and four sixes in his innings. Benton returned a total score of 202. He scored 58 runs off 51 balls with the help of six fours and a six. England’s middle order collapsed after two sets of batsmen left. Moin Ali (1) and Sam Billings (19) quickly returned to the pavilion.
From here, Vile and Kurain shared a 73-run partnership to keep the team moving towards a huge score. Kurren then added a crucial 30 runs with Saqib Mehmood in the end to bring England to a score of 328 runs. Vile played 42 balls in his half-century innings and hit 3 fours and 3 sixes. Kurren hit 4 fours in his unbeaten innings of 38, facing 54 balls. Josh Little ended England’s innings one ball before Mahmud was dismissed. Mahmud scored 12 runs. Sterling was chosen as the ‘Player of the Match’ or Wiley was elected the ‘Player of the Series’.
