This ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has been unpredictable because of the unstable weather. Rain has previously forced South Africa and Zimbabwe to abandon their match. Due to rain, England lost the game against Ireland today, which was decided by the DLS method.
Match Report
Josh Buttler, the captain of England, won the toss at the MCG and opted to bowl first. So Ireland started their batting innings with Paul Stirling and the captain, Andrew Balbirnie. Like the previous match, both openers of Ireland tried to play aggressively from the start.
Unfortunately, Paul Stirling couldn’t stay long on the crease. He lost his wicket to Mark Wood in the 3rd over. But the skipper, then, made a fantastic partnership with Lorcan Tucker. They looked very comfortable on the field. However, they added 82 runs together on the scoreboard.
Their partnership was heading Ireland towards a big score. In the end, Adil Rashid provided a breakthrough by taking Lorcan Tucker’s wicket. Before losing the wicket, Tucker scored 34 runs from 27 balls.
After that, the following Irish batters couldn’t contribute much to the team. The skipper, Andrew Balbirnie, fought alone to make a good score. However, he scored the highest 62 runs with two sixes and five fours. Relying on his bat, Ireland scored 157 runs for 10 wickets.
Defending the target, the Irish started their bowling innings in style. Pacer Joshua Little picked up Josh Buttler in the very first over. After a while, the British lost another batter. This time, Alex Hales departed the crease after scoring only seven runs. Ben Stokes, the following batter, also failed to survive long.
But David Malan and Harry Brook took responsibility and played carefully. They made a partnership of 36 runs for England. However, Irish bowler George Dockrell broke their partnership in the 11th over by picking up Harry Brook.
Then, David Malan tried to build another partnership with Moeen Ali. They added 19 runs together on the 7th wicket. Unfortunately, Malan lost his wicket after scoring 35 runs. Although England had five overs left, the rain started. The umpires waited long, but the rain didn’t stop. As a result, Ireland won the game by five runs in a DLS method.