England defeat plucky Ireland
Collingwood was England's key batsman
Also In The News
|
Random House, translated from the Russian by Arch Tait, hardback, 323 pages, £17. |  |
Friday, 30, Mar 2007 11:01
England claimed a 48-run victory over Ireland in their first Super Eight match of the World Cup.
After posting a total of 266-7 England bowled out Ireland for 218 at the Guyana game.
Paul Collingwood was the pick of the England batsmen. Coming in with the score on 89-3 the Durham man was able to steady the innings in partnership with Kevin Pietersen.
Despite looking fluent, scoring 48 off 47 balls, Pietersen failed to capitalise on what was beginning to look like a solid innings. He fell to the bowling of Kyle McCallan, chipping the ball to mid-on.
It was left to Collingwood to get England to a respectable total and he did so with a partnership with Andrew Flintoff which was worth 81.
When the Lancastrian departed Collingwood upped his own strike rate to better than a run-a-ball before eventually being run out in the final over for 90.
England claimed two early wickets as Ireland began their reply. James Anderson dismissed the dangerous Jeremy Bray for a first-ball duck and some sharp fielding by Sajid Mahmood off his own bowling accounted for Eoin Morgan.
However, Ireland mounted a spirited fight back that had England rattled. Niall O'Brien (63) put on a partnership of 61 with William Porterfield (31) and had support from Andre Botha in the middle order to help his team to 166-3.
But Monty Panesar trapped Kyle O'Brien lbw with the score on 139 and Michael Vaughan broke brother Niall's resistance on the same score to help England breathe easier towards the end of the game.
Andrew Flintoff polished off the tail to give England their first points of the Super Eights though the team were indebted most of all to Collingwood's heroics with the bat.