England v Ireland

The Wonder Team takes on England
The surprise team of the world cup Ireland took on England in their first match of the super eight round. The match was moreover important for England to solidify their position in this round. Ireland was no more the minnows as they were before the starting of the world cup. Thus England was very cautious in their approach before taking on the surprise package of this world cup.

Vaughn got lucky with the coin
Michael Vaughn the English skipper won the toss for England. He chose to bat first on a condition that would have favored the bowlers in the early hours. But the English think tank had the plan to dominate the Irish team right from the start of the match.

English strategy backfired
The ploy to bat first did not work out for England in the initial stages of the match. The openers tamely submitted before the agile bowling of the Irish pacers. First to go was Ed Joyce whose bat could not find the ball, which eventually went through the block hole to uproot his stumps. He scored 1 run from 5 balls. The skipper soon followed suit after scoring 6 runs from 13 balls. England was stranded on 23 runs at the loss of 2 wickets in 5.2 overs.

Stability in the English innings
After the initial shock the English batting was stabilized by valuable knocks from Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen. Ian bell scored 31 runs from 74 balls and Pietersen chipped in with a cautious 48 runs from 47 balls. The England team was still facing the brunt with loosing 4 batsmen on 113 runs.



Collingwood rise to the occasion
Paul Collingwood took the plunge to resurrect the English innings with a gritty knock. He started off his innings very cautiously by playing each ball to its merit. But as they inched towards the slog overs he shifted gear to accelerate the scoring by sending the ball over the park. He was run out after scoring 90 runs from 82 balls. On the other end he was aptly supported by the disgraced vice captain Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff proved a point to the team management by scoring a responsible 43 runs 62 balls.

Spirited Irish bowling
The Irish bowling again proved its mettle by restricting England to a fighting total of 266 runs for 7 wickets. The most successful bowler among the lot was WB Rankin who took 2 wickets for 28 runs in 7 overs. The other successful bowlers in the innings were Johnston, Botha, O’Brian, and McCallan, who took 1 wicket each.

Dismal start
The Irish innings did not start on a good note. They lost wickets on a very early stage. Both the openers fell cheaply and Ireland was stranded at 11 runs for 2 wickets in 3.4 overs. The openers could not give team the start to overpower the opponent.

Stability in the middle over
However the Irish middle order did not give up hope and fought back to give the English bowlers run for their money. The Irish skipper NJ O’Brian scored 63 runs from 88 balls to take the total past 200 runs. The other successful batsman of the innings was AR White who chipped in with a valuable 38 runs knock from 35 balls.

English bowling brought home the points…
The English bowling responded well to the challenge thrown by the Irish batsmen and was successful in preventing another surprise win in the world cup. The most successful among the lot was Andrew Flintoff with 4 wickets at 43 runs in 8.1 overs. The spinner Panesar picked up two wickets giving away 31 runs in 10 overs. Vaughn, Collingwood and Anderson picked up 1 wicket each to pack off the Irish innings for 218 runs in 48.1 overs.

England won after struggle
The valiant effort by the Irish team went in vain as they could not win the match. They lost the match by a margin by 48 runs. England was relieved by winning their first match in this round and saving themselves from any upset.

Man of the match
Paul Collinwood was invested with the title of man of the match for his brilliant knock of 90 runs that gave England a chance to post a fighting total.