Ireland stun England with superb T20 World Cup win at rain-hit MCG

Ireland picked up a famous win over England at the T20 World Cup, as England’s run chase was ended by rain with them five runs short of par on DLS in Melbourne.

The Irish reached 157 all out in their innings, with captain Andrew Balbirnie the star of the show, making 62, and although a good score, it could have been more having been 103-1 at one stage.

England, though, were struggling to keep pace, losing early wickets and finding any rhythm difficult at the enormous Melbourne Cricket Ground.

However, Moeen Ali was just starting to motor alongside Liam Livingstone in the 15th over of the chase, but the rain became too heavy and the teams were dragged off with England frustratingly just behind par score.

After some time was lost at the start of the innings, there was little to play with at that juncture and the game came to an end just a few minutes later, with Ireland victorious.

The famous 50-over World Cup win in Bangalore was 11 years ago now and Irish fans have added another brilliant win to remember against the English.

The result makes Group One of the Super 12 stage very interesting indeed, with both England and Australia having now lost one out of two matches, and their clash on Friday back at the MCG becomes crucial.

There was a disrupted start with rain around in Melbourne early on, with 18 minutes lost before the Irish innings started in earnest, although it did become a great start from the underdogs.

Paul Stirling was dismissed in the third over, but Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker were impressive as they took Ireland to 103 before a really unfortunate runout of non-striker Tucker as a straight shot from Balbirnie unintentionally flicked onto the stumps by bowler Adil Rashid’s fingers.

That wicket left the score at 103-2 after 12 overs, and the innings lost momentum somewhat after that, with only Curtis Campher really making an impression in the second half of the allotted overs.

Liam Livingstone was the surprise hit of the bowling attack, finishing on 17-3 off his three overs, while Mark Wood also picked up three wickets from his four overs as Ireland were bowled out for 157 off 19.2 overs.

England’s reply could not have got off to a worse start, with Jos Buttler caught behind just two balls in.

Alex Hales was gone in the third over with England on 14-2 and struggling, with Ben Stokes adding just six, bowled by a superb Fionn Hand delivery, leaving England 29-3 off 5.1.

Dawid Malan and Harry Brook settled the ship, although they were falling behind the run-rate as they restricted their big shots due to the early wickets. A number of wides from the Irish bowlers were aiding the English cause, though.

They were also helped by back-to-back drops in the 11th over, with Mark Adair and then Gareth Delany spilling chances off George Dockrell. However, Delany then made up for it just a couple of balls later, hanging onto one in the deep to dismiss Brook.

Things were looking bad for England and got even worse when Malan was caught by Hand off Barry McCarthy, bringing his struggle of an innings to a close on 35 from 36 balls.

Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone were in and then men tasked with getting the job done for England, which Ali started to do impressively, reaching 24 off 12 balls.

However, the rain came back in Melbourne with England 105-5 after 14, a score which left Buttler’s side five runs below par on DLS as the teams left the field.

There was not much time to play with and the teams could not return, with Ireland taking the victory.

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