Ireland had waited a long time to face England in England, so when the opportunity arrived at the County Ground in Bristol on Friday for the first of two One-Day Internationals, a more competitive performance was to be expected.
That was on show briefly, as Ireland got to 81 for 2 comfortably enough, but once Adil Rashid turned it on, the end came swiftly.
Now, with less than a day to regroup, Ireland is at Lord’s for the second ODI, with around 25,000 spectators are expected for the finale.
Prior to the two-match series, Ireland went down 7-2 in a three-format series against Afghanistan at Greater Noida in India, with Rashid Khan, the teenage leg-spinner, being the difference between the two teams. England’s Rashid, also a leg-spinner, left them in a spin on his way to 5 for 27 on Friday, and so lopsided was that contest that barely more than half the total overs – 53 out of 100 – were needed in the end.
Ireland collapsed for 126 in 33 overs after William Porterfield opted to bat. England used just 20 overs to get past that. Peter Chase's three wickets apart, there were few highlights for the visiting side in a defeat made all the more harsh by the fact that it came with Ireland on the verge of Test status.
Porterfield, however, refused to accept that Ireland was out of its depth. “I’d never use the phrase ‘out of depth’,” he said prior to the second game. “I think we started pretty positively ... and wouldn’t necessarily have envisaged that spin would do the damage. Not taking anything away from Rashid, we should have played it a lot better. That’s something we need to mentally put right for Sunday.”
Eoin Morgan, meanwhile, was celebrating Rashid’s achievement – the second-best figures by an English spinner in ODIs behind Vic Marks’s 5 for 20 against New Zealand in Wellington back in 1984. “It was Adil's day,” he said. “I thought he put in a magnificent effort with the ball. He had a tough winter and has learnt a huge amount to come back with confidence to bowl his variations and show how threatening he can be.”
It wasn’t Rashid alone who troubled the Ireland batsmen; Joe Root’s part-time off-spin also accounted for two wickets, including that of Porterfield, after England opted to field just one frontline spinner in Rashid.
“I think you find a lot of teams we come up against underestimate Joe (as a bowler), and using him has worked for us – probably more so in Twenty20 cricket,” pointed out Morgan.
England has allowed Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes to sit out the series as they continue with their Indian Premier League journeys. But it still has a bunch of power-hitters in the side, and an experienced bowling attack that has the potential to take on the best sides as the team gear up for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 at home next month.
Ireland has the ability to beat big teams, as it has shown over the years. But considering its recent form – it has lost all ten ODIs against the top eight teams since the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup – it will have to lift its game a couple of notches to end the disappointing run.
Teams (from)
England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings (wk), Ben Duckett, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Mark Wood.
Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Andy Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson (wk), Craig Young.
England will play at least two internationals in Cardiff next month, with the first game against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy group A on June 6th and may return for a semi-final if they top their group, but will certainly be back for the third game in the NatWest IT20 Series against South Africa on June 25th.
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