Melbourne : The overcast skies over MCG witnessed a rain affected upset as in form Ireland edge past England by 5 runs by DLS method.
Defending a total of 158, Ireland bowlers especially Joshua Little created havoc, by dismissing both english openers namely Jos Buttler & Alex Hales. England lost 5 quick wickets and were under pressure as they felt lots of difficulties facing Irish pacers but, with the arrival of Mooen Ali momentum started to shift in England’s favour. It was 52 runs needed for England in 33 overs with 5 wickets remaining, when the heavy rain interfered and ruined the game, which could have been a close encounter. Since England were 5 runs short of the required DLS par total, Ireland won the match.
In the 1st innings, being put to Bat, Irish skipper Andrew Balbirnie scored a brilliant 62 runs to take the team to a flying start, at one point of time Ireland seemed getting close to 200 but english death bowlers especially Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone gave England a brilliant comeback by taking 3 wickets each and restricting Ireland to 157 runs.
Brief Scorecard :
1st Innings :
Ireland : 157(19.2)
Andrew Balbirnie : 62(47)
Lorcan Tucker : 34(27)
England
Liam Livingstone : 3/17
Mark Wood : 3/34
2nd Innings :
England : 105-5(14.3)
Dawid Malan : 35(37)
Mooen Ali : 24*(12)
Ireland
Joshua Little : 2/16
Ireland win by 5 runs (DLS Method)
