Cricket Banter

England have named a 14 man squad for their 3 match ODI series against Ireland. All matches are to be played at Southampton Ageas Bowl, & are Day/Night fixtures starting at 2pm on Thursday 30th of July, Sunday 2nd of August, & Tuesday the 4th of August.

Eoin Morgan (capt) Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Joe Denly, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, James Vince, David Willey.

Reserves - Richard Gleeson, Lewis Gregory, Liam Livingstone

1st ODI England v Ireland - England won toss & elected to field.
Ireland in all sorts of trouble at 79-7. The recalled David Willey with a wicket in the 1st over has so far taken 4-20. The spin twins Rashid & Ali are now rattling through the overs.

Ireland 172 all out (44.4 overs) Willey 5-30
Campher 59 not out (on debut) & McBrine 40 added 66 for the 8th wicket.

England beat Ireland by 6 wickets in the 1st ODI at the Ageas Bowl Southampton
After a little wobble, an unbroken 5th wicket partnership of 96 by Billings 67 not out & Morgan 36 not out got the over the line with 22.1 overs remaining. Captain Morgan sealed the win with a six. Man of the Match was David Willey.

2nd ODI England v Ireland - Ageas Bowl
Ireland won the toss & elected to field
212-9 (50 overs) Campher 68 Rashid 3-34

England beat Ireland by 4 wickets in the 2nd ODI
Ireland 212-9
England 216-6 (32.3 overs)Bairstow 82 Willey 47 not out Billings 46 not out Little 3-60

Man of The Bairstow scored a hard hitting 82 off 41 balls, his dismissal saw 3 wickets fall for 6 runs, with both Morgan & Ali going for ducks.
At 137-6 the game was in the balance with 76 runs required & a weaker lower order with Topley replacing Tom Curran. It needed sensible batting & Billings looked assured leading the team off the field with another unbeaten knock (46) Williey played his part with some strong shots (47 not out) as the pair added 76 runs.
Little showed spirit after taking some early punishment from Bairstow, he came back strongly taking 3 wickets. South African born Campher impressed again with his 2nd half century & wickets.
A slightly improved performance from Ireland who always punch above their weight. They don't have the advantage of an established First Class structure or the money & resources that England are blessed with. This series is a potential banana skin for England, they are expected to win this comfortably,, despite having 6 of their World Cup winning side unavailable due to the separate ODI & Test bubbles.

I give Ireland great credit for being able to show they play a game of cricket against a top Test and give them problems and don't forget in 1969 Ireland DID beat the mighty West Indies at that particular time which still probably stands as one of their most significant cricket results.

Adil Rashid reached 150 ODI wickets for England today, & is the 5th highest wicket taker.
Jonny Bairstow became the joint quickest England batsman to reach 3000 ODI runs, equaling Roots 72 innings, & joint 5th fastest in the world. He also recorded the equal fastest ODI half-century, 21 balls by Eoin Morgan.

Documentary premiere airs tonight, on BBC2 at 9pm. The Edge follows the England Test sides rise from 2009-2013 to the World No.1 Rank.