World Cup O'Brien's fastest ton steers Ireland to epic win over England

World Cup O'Brien's fastest ton steers Ireland to epic win over England

 

Kevin O’Brien smashed the fastest ever World Cup century to propel Ireland to a stunning three-wicket win over England in a Group B match on Wednesday.
An astonishing knock by O’Brien, who clobbered 13 fours and six sixes to reach three figures in only 50 balls, helped the Irish to live up to their reputation as giant-killers as they overhauled England’s total of 327-8 with five balls to spare. It was the highest successful run chase in the tournament.

 


Four years after beating Pakistan in the group stage in the Caribbean, the Irish repeated the feat to dent England’s hopes of progressing into the knockout stages of the 2011 tournament.

 




“When you are 111-5 I just said to myself, we could just potter around and get 220 off 50 overs for eight or nine and the game would have been pretty boring to watch and it wouldn’t have been anything to watch on TV,” a grinning O’Brien said clutching his man of the match trophy.

 

 

Ireland powers to shock 3-wicket win over England

Ireland's Kevin O'Brien hit a sensational 113 from 63 balls to give his team an improbable three-wicket win over England and one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

 

Ireland looked down and out at 111-5 in reply to England's 327-8 but O'Brien clubbed six sixes and 13 fours to power his side to victory with 329-7 - smashing Matthew Hayden's record for the quickest World Cup century on the way.

 

O'Brien was run out in the penultimate over but his sixth-wicket stand of 162 with Alex Cusack effectively clinched the Group B match for a win even more memorable than Ireland's victories against Pakistan and Bangladesh at the last World Cup.

Hayden set the previous record for the quickest World Cup century off 66 balls for Australia against South Africa in 2007, but O'Brien hit huge sixes to all corners of Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium as England's bowling disintegrated once Graeme Swann's 10 overs were completed.

England could have won but for four dropped catches, including captain Andrew Strauss's spill of a skied shot when O'Brien was on 91. Matt Prior spilled a high catch from Ed Joyce, James Anderson let a shot by Niall O'Brien sail through his hands on the boundary for six and Michael Yardy dropped Cusack on 32 off his own bowling.

  

But O'Brien and Cusack hit 62 off the batting powerplay from the 32nd over to take the game away from England, which must now regroup for Sunday's match with in-form South Africa.
"Hopefully it will galvanize the team and the equation now is pretty simple," Strauss said. "We can't afford any slip ups."

Ireland is now competing with England for a quarterfinal berth.

On the wicket where England and India each hit 338 in last weekend's memorable Group B tie, John Mooney hit the winning runs with a four off Anderson to finish unbeaten on 33. Trent Johnston made 7 not out.

"They go out here with an attitude of 'we've got nothing to lose,' and they don't," Strauss said. "That doesn't make things easy for you."

 

England had looked in total control after Jonathan Trott hit 92 and Anderson bowled Ireland captain William Porterfield with the first ball of the Irish reply. Swann took three wickets in 13 balls to make it 111-5 but that was as good as it got for England.

Trott and Ian Bell added 167 for England's third wicket, with Trott equaling the record set by Viv Richards and matched by Kevin Pietersen for the quickest ever 1,000 one-day international runs - reaching the mark in 21 innings.

Bell struck 81 and Pietersen chipped in with 59 as England looked to have justified Strauss' decision to bat after winning the toss.

England could have set an even bigger target, but slipped from 278-2 to 327-8. After early struggles, Trent Johnston finished with figures of 2-58 - becoming the first Ireland player to take 50 one-day wickets - and Mooney had Tim Bresnan caught off the last ball of the 50 overs to finish with one-day best figures of 4-63.

 

O'Brien's sensational century helps Ireland to famous World Cup win over England

Kevin O'Brien smashed the fastest ever World Cup century off just 50 balls to inspire Ireland to a sensational World Cup victory over England in Bangalore.
England looked set for victory when they made 327-8 off their 50 overs, but some extraordinary big hitting from O'Brien saw them to a three wicket win.
It was triumph to trump Ireland's memorable win over Pakistan at the 2007 World Cup.

If England's tie against India on Sunday was dramatic enough, this match probably threw up even more wonderful theatre.


 


O'Brien (113) came to the crease when damage limitation seemed the best his team could hope for, after they lost three wickets for eight runs to falter to 111 for five in an apparently vain pursuit of 327 for eight.
But he responded with an innings of immense power, smashing six sixes and 13 fours in a 50-ball hundred and dominating a stand of 162 in 17 overs with Alex Cusack (47).


 


No one in the England attack was safe, with Graeme Swann (three for 47) the lucky one that he managed to complete his full 10-over allocation before O'Brien began his assault in earnest.
England did not help themselves, dropping five catches in all, including O'Brien and Cusack once each. In the end even O'Brien's run-out, trying to scamper a second run at the start of the 49th over, could not stop Ireland getting home with five balls to spare. 


 


Ireland's prospects of pulling off a tournament record chase under lights appeared decidedly slim, and all the more so after they lost captain Will Porterfield to the first ball of their reply under lights. They needed a good start yet got the polar opposite when Porterfield inside-edged an attempted cover-drive at a wide ball from James Anderson back on to his stumps.
Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce gave England, and Stuart Broad in particular, something to think about in a second-wicket stand of 62. But Stirling got underneath a pull at Broad's replacement Tim Bresnan and was caught at deep square-leg in the 10th over.
Joyce then mis-pulled successive Bresnan deliveries and could easily have gone to either, on 21. But first of all, Anderson's lunge in from midwicket was not quick enough - and then wicketkeeper Matt Prior spilled a high, swirling chance.
New batsman Niall O'Brien was dropped on five at long-off, where Anderson parried a big hit at Swann for six. The consolation for England seemed to be that a repeat of the fielding mishaps they endured in their first match against Holland would surely not matter too much.
So it still seemed when Niall O'Brien missed a slog-sweep at Swann, who had a second wicket when Joyce went up the pitch and was easily stumped after failing to cover the spin. 


 


Swann was in business again when Gary Wilson was trapped lbw sweeping. But that merely brought O'Brien and Cusack together for what turned out to be the match-turning partnership.
Many huge blows had already been inflicted by the time Andrew Strauss dropped a tough skier, running back behind the bowler from extra-cover after O'Brien brutalised a ball from Paul Collingwood skywards on 91.


Cusack then escaped a tough caught-and-bowled chance to Mike Yardy on 32. England finally got the breakthrough when Cusack failed to regain his ground after a mix-up over a single. But O'Brien knew he had done all the hard work, and was in no mood to give England a route back into a match they had once appeared to be coasting.
Trott had earlier passed his 1,000 ODI runs in only his 21st innings, apparently serving his team well with an exact run-a-ball tempo. He shared a third-wicket stand of 167 with Bell, after Kevin Pietersen (59) and Strauss had predictably got England off to a blistering start.
Strauss, who won the toss, and Pietersen immediately set about the opposition's new-ball pair Boyd Rankin and Johnston. The in-form captain was first to go, after a stand of 91 in less than 14 overs, when he tried to paddle-pull slow left-armer George Dockrell off his stumps and was bowled round his legs.


t was an odd shot, and Pietersen also went tamely - soon after reaching his first half-century as an ODI opener, from only 41 balls, when he attempted to reverse-sweep off-spinner Stirling but somehow presented a simple catch to wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien.
Trott and Bell therefore had to start again, yet lost little noticeable momentum doing so. Neither gave a chance, Trott profiting again from his risk-free accumulation to help keep England above six-an-over almost throughout.


He survived Bell, who chipped a full toss low to a tumbling Stirling at straight midwicket off Mooney. There were still 55 runs in powerplay. But after Trott also went short of his hundred, bowled aiming a big hit at Mooney (four for 63), England faltered and could manage only an under-par 70 in the last 10 overs.
Former Ireland captain Johnston kept tight lines to bowl Prior and Yardy and become the first bowler to take 50 ODI wickets for his country.
England had ended their innings with a whimper, but it seemed highly unlikely to cost them - until O'Brien's muscular and mesmeric intervention.  

Kevin O’Brien scores fastest ever World Cup ton to inspire Irish to historic victory

England v Ireland Kevin O’Brien scores fastest ever World Cup ton to inspire Irish to historic victory

One of the charities attached to this World Cup has asked the players to nominate their favourite book. Perhaps after this humiliation by Ireland the England team will name We Need to Talk About Kevin following their punishment by one of the most amazing one-day innings of all time.


 

Lionel Shriver’s book is a sober, dark novel far removed from the world of sport. But the title fits with what occurred here because it will be a long time before anyone involved with cricket, particularly in Ireland, will stop talking about the century made by Kevin O’Brien.

It was the fastest hundred in a World Cup fixture and propelled Ireland to complete the highest successful run chase in the tournament’s history. It also left Ireland at the centre of one of the sport’s greatest shocks for the second successive tournament adding to their victory over Pakistan four years ago to deliver a resounding retort to those forcing associate nations out of future World Cups.

England deserved the defeat their form so far in this tournament has threatened. Twice the batsmen saved them from losses to Holland and India.


 

This time they fluffed the final overs of their own innings, down to a mixture of what looked like complacency and lack of a hitter in the O’Brien mould down the order. They added only 33 off their last five overs as they copied India’s mistake on Sunday of not putting the game out of sight when batting first.