Ireland won the match from England with 3 wickets

Ireland won the match from England with 3 wickets

Kevin O'Brien smashed the fastest century in World Cup history off just 50 balls against England on Wednesday as Ireland recorded their greatest win on cricket's biggest stage. 

  



O'Brien came to the crease with Ireland struggling on 106 for four chasing a mammoth 327 for eight in Bangalore and flayed the England attack, striking six sixes and 13 fours including the biggest of the tournament.

In an astonishing display of power-hitting he obliterated the previous fastest Cup century record held by Australia's Matthew Hayden, who hit 100 off 66 balls against South Africa at St Kitts in the 2007 tournament.

The 26-year-old O'Brien shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 162 with Alex Cusack (47) before John Mooney joined him, hitting a quickfire 33 not out.







O'Brien was run out for 113 off just 63 balls as Ireland set a new record for a successful run chase in a World Cup, finishing on 329-7 to win by three wickets with five balls remaining.

"I don't think it's quite sunk in," said O'Brien, after another famous win to follow Ireland's shock World Cup triumph over Pakistan in 2007.

"It's probably the best innings I've ever played. I just hit the ball pretty well and got a bit of luck and things went my way. I just kept going and kept attacking."





Squander a winning position
Ireland captain William Porterfield, who saw his side squander a winning position in their opening match against Bangladesh, hailed the "greatest" day for Irish cricket.





"We believed in ourselves. We had a bit of an upset the other night when we should have knocked off 200 against Bangladesh but to bounce back the way that the lads have bounced back, especially after losing a few early wickets and being 111-5, was a great effort," he said. 


"We've still got four games left in this tournament so we'll be looking to put in a performance like that every game and you never know from there. We've still got a great chance of qualifying for the second phase," he added.

Devastated England skipper Andrew Strauss said England's poor showing in the field, including a number of dropped catches, had cost them.

"We thought we'd done a reasonable job with the bat and we got Ireland at five down and things were looking pretty comfortable," he said.

"But we weren't reckoning on an outstanding innings from Kevin O'Brien. It was pretty brutal."

He was at a loss to explain the poor fielding, adding: "We put down another three or four catches and in the end that cost us the game."

England scored 327-8 with Jonathan Trott equalling the record for the fastest 1 000 one-day international runs.

Trott, who scored 92, drew level with West Indies great Vivian Richards and England team-mate Kevin Pietersen in taking just 21 innings to reach the landmark.

Restored pride
The win for Ireland, an associate nation, restored pride to the smaller nations at the World Cup, who until now had lost all their games against the Test teams, mostly by huge margins.

International cricket chiefs have opted to cut the next World Cup to just 10 teams from the current 14 in a move slammed by the smaller nations, who fear the event will become the preserve of the Test-playing nations.

Another history-maker Lasith Malinga played down his landmark second World Cup hat-trick, insisting that his famous four wickets in four balls against South Africa in 2007 was a greater achievement.

The 27-year-old seamer's trademark collection of yorkers and toe-crushers helped him to a career-best 6-38 as Sri Lanka beat Kenya by nine wickets on Tuesday.

"I rate my performance in 2007 better than this because at that stage South Africa were virtually winning the game and I was able to get the hat-trick and brought Sri Lanka back into it," said Malinga.

South African coach Corrie van Zyl said the team would not lower their guard against the Netherlands ahead of their match in Mohali on Thursday.

The Proteas thumped the West Indies by seven wickets in their opening Group B match in New Delhi last week and want to keep up their momentum.

"We want to win the game and that's very important for us. We want to see our combinations are right going forward," said the South African coach. -- Sapa-AFP

 

Ireland win against England

Ireland win against England

Kevin O'Brien stunned England with the fastest hundred in World Cup history as Ireland secured their greatest victory with a monumental three-wicket triumph in Bangalore. O'Brien clubbed a magnificent 113 off 63 deliveries as Ireland earned the highest World Cup run-chase with four balls to spare. After he'd added a match-changing 162 with Alex Cusack, John Mooney joined him to play the innings of his life and help write another famous chapter in Irish sport.

 

When the partnership was broken with 55 still needed Ireland could have lost their way, especially when O'Brien couldn't get the strike back. However, after struggling to get the ball away Mooney suddenly started locating the boundary, firstly off the outside edge but then with two nerveless drives through the covers, each coming after England had strung together a few dot balls to build pressure. He was the dominant partner in the seven-wicket stand.

Still, though, there was a final twist when O'Brien was run out in the penultimate over. Trent Johnston, however, drove his first ball, a full toss from Stuart Broad, for four as the equation came down to below a run-a-ball for the first time in the entire chase. The final over started with just three needed and off the second ball Mooney clipped Anderson through midwicket to set off epic celebrations that will take over any available Bangalore bar tonight. 

O'Brien's innings was breathtaking. He entered when Ed Joyce, seemingly Ireland's last chance of making the chase a contest, was stumped off Graeme Swann to leave their run-chase floundering at 106 for 4, which soon became 111 for 5 when Gary Wilson fell lbw. But O'Brien proceeded to tear the England attack apart. He showed power reminiscent of Kieron Pollard but with a calmer head and better technique, bringing up his hundred off 50 balls with a tuck for two into the leg side to beat Matthew Hayden's World Cup record of 66 deliveries. It led to a reveal of his the purple head-do as part of Ireland's charity fundraising campaign.

He showed his intent early when he thumped Swann through the covers second-ball and the tucked into the offspinner's ninth over with two sixes over midwicket which injected life into Ireland's innings. O'Brien was on 35 off 22 balls when Ireland took the batting Powerplay and it was during those five overs that the chance of the impossible became possible as 62 runs surged onto the total.

As happened against Ryan ten Doeschate's onslaught in their opening match against the Netherlands, England's bowlers started to lose the plot during another wayward, undisciplined display. Michael Yardy went for 16 as did James Anderson whom O'Brien pulled for a huge six to take him to a 30-ball fifty. Anderson's next over went for 17 including another leg-side pull and in between whiles, even the normally reliable Tim Bresnan was dispatched, including the finest shot of O'Brien's innings when he drove a six clean over cover.

Really, though, fielding restrictions meant nothing to O'Brien and he continued on his merry way with another huge blow over midwicket to take him into the 90s. Then the whole of Ireland held their breath as O'Brien's next attempt to clear the rope sent the ball high into the night sky where Andrew Strauss made a lot of ground but then couldn't hold on.

O'Brien needed support to play his incredible innings and Cusack's role can't be understated in the amazing scenes which unfolded. He was almost lost in O'Brien's slipstream but sensibly rotated the strike until, off his 49th ball, he joined the boundary hitting by launching Collingwood over midwicket then thumped Yardy straight down the ground. Even his dismissal, run-out from backward point, was for the team cause as he ensured O'Brien stayed at the crease. Although he wasn't quite there at the end he had written himself a permanent place in Irish folklore.

 

Even more incredibly this wasn't a run chase built on solid foundations. William Porterfield dragged the first ball of the innings into his stumps and although Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and Niall O'Brien all played neatly their contributions were seemingly too insignificant in such a huge pursuit. In the final outcome, however, the intent shown by Stirling, in particular, showed Ireland wouldn't take a backward step.

Tellingly, too, Stirling was given a life when Matt Prior shelled a simple chance which set the tone for another shoddy fielding display. However, it looked like England would comfortably emerge unscathed when Swann removed three middle-order scalps with a teasing spell of drift, flight and turn to leave Ireland 111 for 5. Already, though, O'Brien was at the non-striker's end and about embark on one of the great match-winning displays.

 

There are so many areas England will rue, chiefly another below-par display in the field but they will also look back on the closing stages of their seemingly impressive 327. The final five overs only brought 33 runs as Mooney preceded his crucial batting effort with some smart death bowling and a career-best 4 for 63. It meant, like for India three days ago, the 350-plus that was on the cards when Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell were adding 167 for the third wicket didn't materialise. This tournament is proving that big first-innings scores are no certainty of victory.

 

It will be largely forgotten because of what followed, but Trott wrote his own place in the record books when he reached 1000 runs in his 21st innings to equal the mark set by Viv Richards and Kevin Pietersen. The latter had set up the innings with a sparkling 59 before throwing away his chance of a hundred with a top-edged reverse sweep. It wasn't England's only piece of lazy cricket. Bell's was a lovely, easy, innings as he moved along with smart placement and deft touches to tick off his fifty from 61 balls.

After their problems against India, England actually used the batting Powerplay reasonably well to collect 45 runs and even though the middle order failed to fire once again it appeared fairly insignificant when Ireland's top order was whittled away. One man, though, stood in their way and the rest, as they say, is history. 

  

Ireland beats England Kevin O'Brien creates history

England v Ireland 2011 Cricket

Kevin O’ Brien became a national hero as he hit a record breaking 113 from 63 balls to give his team a historic and sensational three-wicket win over England and one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
Ireland looked down and out at 111-5 in reply to England’s 327-8 but O’Brien clubbed six sixes and 13 fours to power his side to victory with 329-7 — smashing Matthew Hayden’s record for the quickest World Cup century on the way.

 



 



O’Brien was run out in the penultimate over but his sixth-wicket stand of 162 with Alex Cusack effectively clinched the Group B match for a win even more memorable than Ireland’s victories against Pakistan and Bangladesh at the last World Cup.
Hayden set the previous record for the quickest World Cup century off 66 balls for Australia against South Africa in 2007, but O’Brien hit huge sixes to all corners of Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium as England’s bowling disintegrated once Graeme Swann’s 10 overs were completed.
England could have won but for four dropped catches, including captain Andrew Strauss’s spill of a skied shot when O’Brien was on 91. Matt Prior spilled a high catch from Ed Joyce, James Anderson let a shot by Niall O’Brien sail through his hands on the boundary for six and Michael Yardy dropped Cusack on 32 off his own bowling.
But O’Brien and Cusack hit 62 off the batting powerplay from the 32nd over to take the game away from England, which must now regroup for Sunday’s match with in-form South Africa.
Ireland will now compete with England for a quarterfinal berth.
On the wicket where England and India each hit 338 in last weekend’s memorable Group B tie, John Mooney hit the winning runs with a four off Anderson to finish unbeaten on 33. Trent Johnston made 7 not out.
England had looked in total control after Jonathan Trott hit 92 and Anderson bowled Ireland captain William Porterfield with the first ball of the Irish reply. Swann took three wickets in 13 balls to make it 111-5 but that was as good as it got for England.
Trott and Ian Bell added 167 for England’s third wicket, with Trott equaling the record set by Viv Richards and matched by Kevin Pietersen for the quickest ever 1,000 one-day international runs — reaching the mark in 21 innings.
Bell struck 81 and Pietersen chipped in with 59 as England looked to have justified Strauss’ decision to bat after winning the toss.
England could have set an even bigger target, but slipped from 278-2 to 327-8. After early struggles, Trent Johnston finished with figures of 2-58 — becoming the first Ireland player to take 50 one-day wickets — and Mooney had Tim Bresnan caught off the last ball of the 50 overs to finish with one-day best figures of 4-63.