Ben Foakes’ unbeaten 61 on his debut helped England recover from a top-order collapse to beat Ireland by four wickets in a lone one-day international in Dublin yesterday.
England, the world’s top-ranked side in ODI cricket and the hosts of the 50-over World Cup starting later this month, collapsed to 66 for five chasing a modest 199 for victory.
They were still in trouble at Malahide when teenage debutant left-arm quick Josh Little took his fourth wicket to leave them 101 for six against an Ireland side who have not qualified for the World Cup.
But wicket-keeper Foakes and Surrey teammate Tom Curran (47 not out) saw England to victory with an unbroken stand of 98. The gloveman’s temperament had already been established with a century on his Test debut in Sri Lanka over the winter. Here, despite knowing he will make way when Jos Buttler returns, he delivered, allied with 47 not out from Curran.
Both men had brushes with disaster along the way. Foakes should have been given out lbw on 37, while Curran was dropped by Lorcan Tucker in the deep on 39. Nevertheless their stand of 98 in 15 overs was ice-cool in its execution, not least given the top-order collapse that had preceded it.
Earlier England’s Liam Plunkett reminded debutant Jofra Archer he is still a force to be reckoned with ahead of a home World Cup with a four-wicket haul. Plunkett took four wickets for 35 runs in seven overs as Ireland were dismissed for 198 at Dublin’s Malahide ground.
By contrast Archer, who finished with one for 40 in eight overs, saw his first ball in international cricket hit for four after Dublin-born England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss in a match reduced to 45 overs per side by a wet outfield.
Ireland captain William Porterfield and fellow opener Paul Stirling got the hosts’ innings off to a brisk start.
But from 55 without loss, Ireland slumped to 77 for four.
Ireland, still smarting at their exclusion from a World Cup that has been reduced to just 10 teams, were unable to bat out their 45 overs, with 11 balls left when the innings ended. Barbados-born Archer, on for the second over of England’s first international of a packed season, saw his opening delivery struck sweetly through point for four by Stirling.
The Middlesex batsman took three more boundaries off Archer in an opening four-over spell from the Sussex seamer costing 21 runs. But Archer, living up to his reputation as a fine fielder, helped break the opening stand with a diving low catch at mid-on off Tom Curran to dismiss Stirling for 33.
Next over, Porterfield was caught down the legside off Plunkett by wicket-keeper Ben Foakes, making his ODI debut having already played Test cricket. Kevin O’Brien, who made a brilliant hundred when Ireland beat England in Bangalore at the 2011 World Cup, could only manage four before he hit Curran to backward point.
Andrew Balbirnie’s painstaking 29 ended when Foakes, cleverly holding onto the ball, waited for the batsman to over-balance after missing a sweep off Joe Denly and then whipped off the bails to complete a stumping.
Ireland were now 111 for six and Archer, returning for a second spell, showed what he was capable of with a 90.3 mile per hour yorker that bowled Mark Adair soon after his fellow debutant had hit Curran for two sixes.
Plunkett and Curran then wrapped up the innings between them.
BRIEF SCORES
England 199 for 6 (Foakes 61, Curran 47, Little 4-45) beat Ireland 198 (Stirling 33, Plunkett 4-35) by four wickets.
England’s Ben Foakes in action during a one-day international match against Ireland at the Malahide Cricket Club in Dublin yesterday. (AFP)
