England survive scare, Ben Foakes shines on debut in one-off ODI vs Ireland

Ben Foakes had made a grand debut in Tests during England’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2018. His century in Galle set the tone as England secured a historic 3-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka. On his ODI debut against Ireland in 2019, Foakes had to bat out of his skin to rescue England from a precarious position. He responded by smashing 61 and sharing a 98-run stand with Tom Curran (47) as England got their World Cup preparation off to a shaky start with a four-wicket win against Ireland in a match reduced to 45 overs due to rain. England chose to bowl after the rain-break and they handed a debut to Foakes, Dawid Malan and Jofra Archer, who returned from the IPL for Rajasthan Royals.

William Porterfield and Paul Stirling stitched a 55-run stand for the opening wicket. However, Tom Curran removed Stirling for 33 and that set about a collapse in the middle order. Liam Plunkett combined with Curran and ran through the lower middle order. Plunkett picked up 4/35 while Curran ended with 3/35 and it only took a cameo from Mark Aidar who smashed 32 off 30 balls to help them reach 198. Archer, who had put in a solid performance for the Rajasthan Royals, managed to take his maiden international wicket by getting rid of Aidar.

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In response, England started disastrously. After a solid 35-run opening stand between James Vince and Malan, left-arm pacer Joshua Little, who was also making his ODI debut ran riot, taking four wickets and he was well backed up by Tim Murtagh and Boyd Rankin. At 101/6, Ireland was on the cusp of securing yet another win but Foakes, along with Curran rebuilt the innings. Foakes broke the shackles by clobbering Rankin for a six and a four in the 33^rd over while Curran gave him good company.

A four each by Curran and Foakes off Little swung the momentum towards England and victory was sealed in the 43^rd over. Speaking after the end of the match, England skipper Eoin Morgan admitted that some batsmen batted poorly. “At certain stages, we knew it would be challenging. The bowlers did a great job, 3 or 4 of us batted very poorly. Foakes and Curran put a great partnership, his keeping was great as well. Jofra started well, it's difficult to start off on your debut, but it was a good day out, got some overs behind them.”

England will now take on Pakistan in the one-off Twenty20 International in Cardiff before playing five ODIs.

HIGHLIGHTS

• England lost to Ireland in the 2011 World Cup encounter in Bangalore.
• England will play five ODIs and one T20I against Pakistan.
• England is playing host to the World Cup after 20 years.