Ben Foakes saves the day as England suffer batting collapse but recover for four-wicket win over Ireland
ENGLAND emerged from a drugs scandal and nearly suffered an embarrassment of mind-bending proportions. After the Alex Hales saga, Eoin Morgan’s men wanted nothing more than to keep their noses clean with a routine victory over Ireland. But, chasing a modest 199 to win, England crashed from 34-0 to 66-5 and then 101-6 before sneaking […]
ENGLAND emerged from a drugs scandal and nearly suffered an embarrassment of mind-bending proportions.
After the Alex Hales saga, Eoin Morgan’s men wanted nothing more than to keep their noses clean with a routine victory over Ireland.
But, chasing a modest 199 to win, England crashed from 34-0 to 66-5 and then 101-6 before sneaking home by four wickets.
Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes — one of three making their ODI debuts — saw them over the line with a patient 61 not out.
He was helped by Surrey team-mate Tom Curran’s undefeated 47.
But it was an unconvincing start to an historic summer that contains both the World Cup and a home Ashes series.
Skipper Morgan said: “We knew it would be challenging and three or four of us batted really poorly.
“But Ben Foakes was outstanding and his partnership with Tom Curran got us over the line.”
Sure, England were without at least five 50-over regulars in Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy and Moeen Ali.
But that can be little excuse for such a collapse as the back-up players failed to seize their opportunity with a couple of World Cup places still undecided.
DARK CONDITIONS
England must wish they had a policy of confidentiality over this batting performance like when Hales was handed his three-week ban. Sadly for them, it is our duty to make it public.
England lost a monster-scoring match to Scotland at the start of last summer but this was a different affair altogether.
The match started two hours late because of a wet outfield, was reduced to 45 overs-a-side and the dank conditions encouraged the ball to nibble.
Ireland’s seamers, such as the wily old Middlesex pro Tim Murtagh, 37, and lively left-armer Josh Little, exploited the conditions and benefited from some loose England shots.
Ireland held a couple of blinding catches, too.
The day was meant to be the unveiling of a dazzling new talent in fast bowler Jofra Archer. And he did show plenty of promise.
But England’s wobbles became the story as the top order fell apart after easing to 34-0 with scarcely a tremor.
SEARING YORKER
James Vince pulled a short ball to mid-wicket, Joe Root was lbw and Morgan gloved a third-ball bouncer — a brutal delivery for the homecoming England captain.
Dawid Malan was caught behind and Joe Denly whacked a catch to mid-wicket — a near carbon-copy of Vince’s dismissal.
That made it 66-5 before David Willey put on 35 with Foakes who finished the job with Curran.
Archer announced himself with a spectacular first international wicket, a searing 90mph yorker that crashed into off-stump.
It provided a tantalising taste of what his future could hold.
Archer’s figures were an unremarkable 8-0-40-1 and his victim, Irish all-rounder Mark Adair, is not exactly Virat Kohli or David Warner.
But the Barbados-born pacemen touched 91.1mph and the yorker which uprooted Adair’s off pole was recorded at 90.3mph.
Morgan added: “Jof started really well. It was an opportunity for him and the other bowlers to get some overs under their belt.”
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Although chunky opener Paul Stirling crashed Archer’s first ball through the covers and he conceded several more boundaries, he looked relaxed on his debut.
And word from the England dressing-room is that Archer has integrated well with few concerns that his fast-tracking has undermined morale.
The Sussex bowler, 24, has a T20 match in Cardiff tomorrow and five ODIs against Pakistan to secure his World Cup place. But he already looks nailed on.
