Chasing what’s rated as an easy target in modern-day cricket, England registered the series-clinching victory 𝓀against Ireland at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Saturday (August 1).
A scintillating pyrotechnics form Johnny Bairstow and a miserly effort from English bowlers, especially Adil Rashid’s masterclass, ensured a comfortable victory for the hosts.
Even though England kept losing wickets at a regular interval, 🥂Bairstow stood firm and bullied the Irish bowlers with his audacious strokep🥂lay. He scored a fiery 41-balls 82 before falling to Joshua Little.
Bairstow’s dismissal triggered a mini-collapse as the next two batsmen, Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali, walked back without bothering the scoreboard. Both of them fell prey to Little, bringing England in a precarious position.
At this juncture, with the𓄧 scoreboard reading 143 for six, David Willey and Sam Billings formed a crucial partnership to steady the English ship. Both of them combined for 79 run🎐s to drive England past the 212-runs target.
Meanwhile, for Ireland, top-order batsmen once again failed to make any substantial contriﷺbution as the tourists lost their five batsmen for a meagre score of 78 runs inside 25 overs.
Ireland’s openers Paul Stirling and Gareth Delany failed to provide an excellent start to the visitors as both of them succumbed to a swing-and-seam masterclass from Willey.
Rashid kept strikin🃏g in the middle overs as the leggie returned with economical figures of 3-34.
In the 16th over, Rashid bowled an absolute peach of a delivery, a well-executed googly, to dismiss Kevin O’Brien.
The right-handed batsman lunged forward for a usual leg-spin 🌊but got wrong-fo🔯oted as the ball spun back in sharply to dismantle his stumps.
Here’s the video:
Googly /ˈguːgli/ [noun]
Definition: Off break bꦫowled with apparent leg-break action
Example: Adil Rashid
Live score/clips:
— England Cricket (@englandcricket)
The leg-spinner has sent back O’Brien for the second time in as many matches in the ongoing series.
The last mat﷽ch of the series will be played o𝔉n Tuesday (August 4) at the same venue.
