The 2022 T20 World CUp in Australia has thrown curveballs to many teams with the rain playing a major part in the event already. Among some surprising results, Ireland defeated England in the last game due to DLS as Jose Buttler’s men were behind by five runs when rain stopped play.
England were favourites when they headed on to this game against Ireland. However batting first Ireland scored 157 courtesy of a great half century from captain Andy Balbirnie who was later adjudged as the Man of the Match aswell. England started slowly as Joshua Little dismissed both their openers in Jose Buttler and Alex Hales and while Dawid Malan and Harry Brook tried laying the platform they were just too slow and when they had the chance to accelerate they lost their wickets. Moeen Ali tried his best but he was running against time as rain came in and the Irish registered a famous win.
English captain Jos Buttler wants the pain from this defeat to elevate their level going into the future matches. The matches are going to be tougher from here and the Three Lions need to be in their best shape to make a mark.
“I think we should let it hurt, to be honest,” said Buttler at the post-match press conference. “I think days like today are really, really disappointing, and you’ve got to feel that. There’s no point in saying let’s sweep it under the carpet and move on.”
“I think we’ve got to reflect — we’ve got to do it quickly obviously with a game soon after, but today should hurt.”
The game was nicely set up and honestly with Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone at the crease and Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid still left to bat, England would have fancied themselves to chase down the 53 runs from 33 balls. They also have more experience of these nervy finishes than their opponents, Ireland. So it was slightly heartbreaking for them.
“It was getting quite heavy. Of course, we’d love to stay on and try to hit a couple of sixes if we could, but it got heavy. I think the game was lost before that point. I think we were a long way short of where we needed to be right throughout the game, and Ireland deserved to win,” Buttler added.
England will now face hosts Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 28 as both teams will look to go for the win. The hosts were struck with an early blow, a defeat against New Zealand but then they defeated Sri Lanka and got off the mark. Now with England winning one and losing one and New Zealand’s match against Afghanistan getting washed out, things are well in the balance in Group A.
