The Irish team left England shell shocked with a three-wicket defeat at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium tonight.
Kevin O'Brien scored the quickest hundred in World Cup history which set up the dramatic finish in Bangalore.
Ireland looked like they were headed for defeat with they lost three-wickets (Niall O’Brien, Ed Joyce and Gary Wilson) for eight runs to falter to 11 for five in vain pursuit of 327 for eight.
However Kevin O'Brien blasted Ireland back and Trent Johnson and John Mooney held their nerve to steer Ireland to a victory won by three wickets.
O'Brien was shocked after he reached his 100 off 50 balls. He said "I chanced my arm, attacked and batted as positively as I could and thankfully it came off…I kept going and everything went my way, with the odd bit of luck too."
Batting first, England scored 327-8 but Ireland replied with 329-7 with five balls to spare.
"Our bowlers restricted them to a target that we felt we could chase.
"It's a great wicket, a high scoring ground and we managed to take advantage of it."
Ireland captain William Porterfield called today "the greatest day in Irish cricket history and one of our best-ever performances".
"We believed in ourselves and even at 111-5 we managed to bounce back - so all credit to the lads.
"We knew what Kevin O'Brien was capable of and now we are still in the tournament and have a great chance to qualify for the next stage.
"There'll be a big party after this but we still have four games to go and have to produce more big displays."
Comments