MELBOURNE – Underdog Ireland secured a five-run victory over England as showers forced an early finish.
England, who kept losing wickets at regular intervals in their second game, were 105 for five midway through the 15th over chasing not to difficult 1580.
Vice-captain Moeen Ali 24 not out and Liam Livingstone on one at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
AN HISTORIC WIN FOR IRELAND 🙌#T20WorldCup | #IREvENG pic.twitter.com/1M0QFY3Frq
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 26, 2022
Rain at the Melbourne Cricket Ground brings victory for Ireland at the mega event while England failed to gain any momentum after losing their openers and their half squad was back in the pavilion without reaching three figures.
Openers Alex Hales, Jos Buttler and even top all-rounder Ben Stokes fell without scoring any decent in the first four overs.
The bowling side of underdog Ireland displayed A-game as pacer Josh Little dismissed England openers within the first three overs.
Earlier, Irish skipper Andy Balbirnie played a knock of 62 to give his side a great start against bigwig in the cricket carnival at an overcast Melbourne. Ireland then went from being 92/1 at the end of the 10th over to being all out for 157 runs.
Ireland bowlers have kept things under control with three big scalps in the Powerplay 💪#IREvENG | 📝: https://t.co/Q7PLAsLUOL
Head to our app and website to follow the #T20WorldCup action 👉 https://t.co/76r3b7l2N0 pic.twitter.com/2KywIvDC9l
— ICC (@ICC) October 26, 2022
The butler-led squad is among the favorites as they already outclassed Afghanistan opening their tournament with a five-wicket win. Both teams are in group 1 of the Super 12s.
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Squads
England: Jos Buttler (c & wk), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie (c), Paul Stirling, Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, Fionn Hand, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Barry McCarthy