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3rd v England 14-2 (Malan 6, Stokes 0) Goal 158 It’s a real Ben Stokes situation, this one: time to settle before shaking hands. If Ireland can get him, they are in serious business.
WICKET! Hales c Adair b Little 7 (England 14-2)
NO MORE CHANCE! Hales seems to pull a short one, with her toes high, and Adair is as solid as you like under a real stomach swallower. England are under the bomb and you can’t take your eyes off this game!
Updated at 07.42 BST
3rd v England 14-1 (Hales 7, Malan 6) Target 158 There is decent cheer for the bowlers; Hales drives four through midwicket, then plays and misses as one leaves him, before cutting hard! Delany throws a hand… and the ball pops as the batters run two.
2nd v England 8-1 (Hales 1, Malan 6) Target 158 Adair opens from the other end and Malan lifts his arrow over mid on for three, then Hales takes one. On comms, Morgan agrees with Wood that England were under the ball, and we cut to Woakes shaking his head, maybe because he’s still thinking about his 0-41, maybe because he’s got a fly in his eye . I wonder if he’ll keep his place in the side as the matches get more intense, but in the meantime there’s plenty to do in this one, Malan pulling two into mid-on before Adair sends in a beauty of a bat-swinging inswinger . inside; Malan nods twice in approval.
Updated at 07.38 BST
1st v England 0-1 (Hales 0, Malan 0) Goal 158 What a time it must be for Josh Little! Twenty-two years, and an all-time great batsman in the dugout, second ball! Maybe he’s a bit overexcited, but I mean I am, and I’m definitely not him, following the wicket wide. Three points follow, then some extra bounce gets Malan to his feet, gloves it round the corner for one.
Updated at 07.38 BST
WICKET! Buttler c Tucker b Little 0 (England 0-1)
Oh, my days! On a wide delivery, Buttler looks to hit it over the top but the left arm over the angle makes it a slightly different shot and it tickles behind! Here we come!
1st v England 0-0 (Buttler 0, Hales 0) Target 158 Little has the ball…
Updated at 07.33 BST
Well, here we go again!
“Good morning Daniel, good morning everyone!” whistles Em Jackson. “Whether Ireland wins it today or not, it’s still an achievement to think that a country with more than a million people living in and around County Dublin (compared to Leitrim or Longford), where the sports of ‘summer is mainly Gaelic games – football, hurling, camogie – and where there are also ‘distractions’ from Rugby Union, football (as opposed to ‘gaelic football’), golf to name but three for the kids growing up (and no kids means no players) , they are competing against India, Pakistan, England (and England more than many have these distractions) etc etc in a World Cup .
At some point the ECB, the Irish Cricket Assoc., Cricket Scotland and a “Wales Cricket Unit” must have a Four-Nations Cup for T20 at least in the future. Watch the Nations Cup in football*, instead of limiting yourself to T20s after Test we have something. . . . more significant? Are we actually close to needing a T20 Six Nations Cup? England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands + best other European nation?
Back to today’s action, though: one or more Ireland players need to accelerate to 75+ and/or 50+, you’d think to make their score competitive, but the weather . . . . it will be exciting”.
And she’s back: “I can confirm, for the record, that I’m not some sort of Irish mythological creature who curses cricketers with my comments and/or emails!”
Agree with all that. The more that can be done for emerging nations, the better.
Things happened so quickly at the end that there was no time for email, so we’re going to do a few now. “I know there are a number of advantages in selecting Woakes,” says Tom van der Gucht, “such as his batting, reliability, early swing, a very nice guy etc. I just wonder if selecting Mills would have been a bolder choice and would have provided more options with two left-armers, with him offering more pace and Curran more swing, while Wood and Stokes will offer the same but with right arms.”
I keep saying this, but right-arm medium and Australia don’t often mix. Like you, I see the virtues in Woakes; The problem is, if Ireland can chase him, you’d like others to too.
At this point, take a strong hold on Ireland, Andy Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker in particular. They came up with a plan, if you can, go for Chris Woakes, and they executed it brilliantly. But from 92-1 down at half-time, they’ve finished far from where they’d hoped to be, and will have to shoot like hell to get a result from here.
Mark Wood says he doesn’t think England bowled well in the first 10 overs – he’s right – and wonders if the cavernous empty pitch left them flat. The thing is, they have so many weapons, and today it was Liam Livingstone with 3-17 and Sam Curran with 2-31 who rescued them. That said, Wood, while he says he didn’t bowl well, still contributed 3-34, which shows where his game is at, and the key moment came when Adil Rashid got a run of goals when Ireland were in the upper part
England need 158 to win in Ireland!
It was an absolute blast. Ireland batted superbly first, but five wickets in 18 deliveries make England heavy favourites.
WICKET! Little c Buttler b Stokes 0 (Ireland 157 out)
Regulation stuff, a bit of backtracking to pop a catch behind.
20th over: Ireland 157-6 (Delany 12, Little 0) Stokes runs out and Delany forces his first delivery for a…
19th over: Ireland 156-9 (Delany 11, Little 0) How many can Ireland finish in the final?
WICKET! Hand b Curran 1 (Ireland 156-9)
Curran does it again! from wide, tips one in and Hand makes room…but misses. England have come back superbly in these last overs.
19th over: Ireland 156-8 (Delany 11, hand 1) Curran has such a bottle – his desire to bowl at the death and courage to do his skills are very, very special. Hand takes one to cover, then a wood misfield at 45 allows Delany a three.
WICKET! McCarthy b Curran 3 (Ireland 152-8)
Weather and temperament! Yes, but also skill and variation! Curran’s yorker has improved a lot in recent times, and when McCarthy goes down, it misses and the fielder strikes!
19th over: Ireland 152-7 (Delany 8, McCarthy 3) McCarthy dismisses Curran’s first ball for two in the over…
18th over: Ireland 150-7 (Delany 8, McCarthy 1) McCarthy forces his first ball to aim for one and that’s another fine one from Livingstone.
WICKET! Adair c Curran b Livingstone 4 (Ireland 14-7)
Pace and wrist spin are what you need in Australia, and Livingstone is now 3-16! Fires one, Adair makes a quick sweep and Curran, a little deeper than before, holds on as you know he will. What a cricketer he has become.
Updated at 07.08 BST
18th over: Ireland 149-6 (Delany 8, Adair 4) Three singles and two start this last Livingstone over…
17th over: Ireland 144-6 (Delany 6, Adair 1) It was a handy stroke from Campher, and when Adair hits his first delivery outside off it looks for a moment like another wicket… but the ball falls short before Woakes. to the third man. They run one, then Delany cuts a deep third for four – he’s timed it really well – before taking one to the helmet, playing on the bounce of what’s there, effectively heading a bouncer. He’s fine, though, and has seen Wood out, who ends up with 3-43.
WICKET! Campher c Buttler b Wood 17 (Ireland 138-6)
Wood shoots a bouncer to the side of the leg and Campher looks to get some, and looks like he has enough to score, but nope! Buttler sinks a slight tickle, and England are getting into it again.
17th over: Ireland 138-5 (Campher 17, Delany 2) Wood returns to finish, Buttler hoping to get rid of the new batsman. But Delany splashes to fine leg for one, then Campher dances all the way out and catches the world’s fastest bowler at fine leg for four! How about the stones?
Updated at 07:00 BST
16th over: Ireland 133-5 (Campher 13, Delany 1) Delany survives the hat-trick ball, another attempted yorker, then pushes one to long-on, and that’s a huge potential save for England, six runs and two covers from him
WICKET! Dockrell b Livingstone 0 (Ireland 132-5)
Two by two! Livingstone gives it some extra gas, Dockrell is caught by his break, that can happen when a bowler is able to turn it both ways, and it’s york or the same, depending on your perspective. Livingstone is in a hat, and what a match it is!
Updated at 06.56 BST
WICKET! Balbirnie c Hales b Livingstone 62 (Ireland 132-4)
Balbirnie goes again but can’t get enough of his sweep and it sinks to Hales who comes in from deep square. Brilliant captaincy though.
Updated at 06.56 BST
16th over: Ireland 132-3 (Balbirnie 62, Campher 13) Livingstone is back, and his first ball is bowled to fine leg for four! A single follows, striking Balbirnie…
15th over: Ireland 127-3 (Balbirnie 62, Campher 8) Curran, who has been so effective during this period, returns, and after a bye and a two, Balbirnie absolutely hits him over square leg for six, like a guy in the The crowd dives into the seat and the concrete, absolutely close to the catch. If you bowled that sound in 12 inches, you’ll have a number ua on your hands, and when the skipper sticks us two more into deep square, it makes 11, another belt for Ireland!
“With a four-month-old baby,” says Michael Keane, “I’ve been ‘lucky’ enough to catch every first game of this tournament at 5am local time. I’ve just confirmed with a nod (the cricket sage that he is now) that this was…