Ireland v England – T20 World Cup, Boland
How wise is it for the first pre-match stat to read: Win probability Ireland 4%, England 96%?
Maybe that’s the charm of the game, you never can tell.
Before the game news broke that two of England stand-outs, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone had been sold for 6-figure sums for the WPL. (I don’t find cattle-markets in the least attractive.)
Much as their team-mates will be delighted for them, it left a large number of other hopefuls wondering how close they might come to undreamed-of riches.
It was kind of the Indian organisers to ensure that their day of outstanding generosity clashed with a mere World Cup.
The Match
Ireland choose to bat, a positive sign for their attitude to the game. It worked well, Amy Hunter and Gaby Lewis hitting four fours in the first two overs. The question of England’s opening attack reared its ugly head again.
We had an extra break in proceedings: a snake on the pitch! I remained brave and didn’t budge from my seat 6,000 miles away.
By the time Hunter fell to Charlie Dean, caught at deep-square by Sophia Dunkley, 35 runs were on the board in just over 5 overs. Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis Ireland’s two biggest batting hopes, helped bring up 80-2, but from there the familiar weakness of the remaining line-up did for them.
That is the intrinsic problem of trying to remain totally positive. They lost 8 wickets for 25, England’s three spinners finding themselves in their element.
They finished with a combined eight wickets, setting a new English record for spinners in this format.
The Reply
Dunkley couldn’t repeat her heroics; she disappeared in the first over. But Alice Capsey, accompanied by Danni Wyatt, certainly could. The pair put on a devastating stand of 66 off 6.3 overs. Capsey was in her very best form; she had an ounce of luck with the occasional lofted shot, but needs no further justification for her place in the side.
Certainly observers in India didn’t think so. England were already over halfway there in five overs.
One of Jon Lewis’ mantras in the new era of all-out attack is ‘Walk towards th danger’. And what if the danger has already been netted overs earlier?
For England to lose a string of wickets reaching the always accessible target of 106 is unconvincing. And these were most of their front-line operatives: NS-B 5, Knight 14, Jones 12; and of them only Jones recorded a scoring-rate of 100. The game had already grown quiet, a sure sign that everyone accepted the inevitable.
India are the next opponents, and they don’t find it easy feeling scared at the moment.
Teams
Ireland
Hunter, Lewis, Prendergast, Delany (captain), Richardson, Little, Waldron (w-k), Paul, Kelly, Murray, Maguire
England
Dunkley, Wyatt, Capsey, N. Sciver-Brunt, Knight (captain), Jones (w-k) Ecclestone, K. Sciver- Brunt, Glenn, Dean, Bell
Scores
Ireland 105-9 (Lewis 36, Ecclestone 3-13, Glenn 3-19 England 107-6 Capsey 51, Murray 3-15)
England win by 4 wickets
Player of the Match: Alice Capsey
Afterthoughts:
The second Ireland-England match ever. The excuses? To come from one side only, I suspect.
England’s pace bowling remains a worry. The two cases involved could hardly be more different, Lauren Bell still at the start of a promising career. But it is Katherine Sciver-Brunt who is the thornier probem. Unlike most 37-year-old quicks she sees no need to hang up her boots. That would be fine if her bowling retained its lustre of bygone years.
Many of the great fast bowlers of the past – I think of Alec Bedser and especially Dennis Lillee – acquired devilish new deliveries to deceive batters as their pace declined. Maybe the tracks and the white ball are preventing KS-B from achieving the same. The other let-out for her is the lack of an obvious and consistent alternative. Kate Cross’ form has been up and down. Freya Davies still does not have the control of line to be expected from her.
Lewis has persevered with the same line-up over the first two matches. Now they come to the big time (India on Sunday), he and his brains trust may look for more productive alternatives.
