Key events
14th over: England 154-3 (Salt 84, Curran 6) Salt biffs McCarthy to deep extra cover and races back for the second. The umpire checks for the run-out but it’s a precautionary measure; Salt was comfortably home.
McCarthy is about to bowl to Salt when the wind blows one of the bails off; he jokingly raises the finger to give Salt out.
Salt smiles and whacks the next ball for four. He’s 15 away from a century.
13th over: England 147-3 (Salt 78, Curran 6) Glenn Maxwell and Rohit Sharma have a record five T20I centirues from 114 and 151 innings respectively. This is Salt’s 43rd T20I innings, and he didn’t score his first hundred until the 18th. What he’s doing is barely legal.
It’d be funny if, after all this premature statgasming, England went on to lose the game. They need 50 from 42 balls.
12th over: England 141-3 (Salt 76, Curran 2) Salt is denied another boundary, this time off Young, by a spectacular diving stop from Campher at cow corner. The upshot is one of the few boundaryless overs of the day.
“Afternoon Rob,” writes Kimberley Thonger. “Can you pull any strings and please get a message sent out from the England dressing room for them to slow the scoring rate a bit? My daughter-in-law is in labour and I need to be distracted from that as long as possible. It’s not much to ask is it? They’ll have polished this total off before she’s even started pushing properly if something isn’t said.”
Congratulations! I’ll try to telepathise this to Phil Salt.
11th over: England 137-3 (Salt 73, Curran 1) Salt deposits a long hop into the crowd to move to 73 from 31 balls. The fella needs help, he can’t stop committing acts of violence against a cricket ball.
WICKET! England 130-3 (Rehan b Delany 8)
The legspinner Gareth Delany, playing his 100th white-ball international for Ireland, comes tantalisingly close to taking a wicket with his first ball.
Rehan sliced him towards short third, where Hume swooped forward to grab the ball very close to the ground. Hume shook his head, unconvinced it was a clean catch. The umpires went upstairs anyway; the replays were inconclusive and Rehan was given not out.
Not that it made much difference, even in the short term. Two balls later Rehan charged Delany, missed a sinew-straining smear and was bowled by a ball that kept a bit low. A nice moment for Delany on his landmark day.
10th over: England 130-2 (Salt 67, Rehan 8) Rehan Ahmed pulls Curtis Campher’s second ball flat and hard for six. A single turns the strike over to Salt, who blisters another short ball to cow corner for four. He needs 33 for another century. Even if he doesn’t achieve it, his T20 record is just silly.
9th over: England 117-2 (Salt 61, Rehan 1) Rehan Ahmed is the new batter. This is the first time he’s batted higher than No8 for England in white-ball cricket, though he looks increasingly comfortable up the order for Leicestershire and Trent Rockets.
WICKET! England 116-2 (Bethell c Adair b Tector 24)
Six and out for Jacob Bethell. He hit 14 from three balls, culminating in a huge slog-swept six that necessitated a ball replacement, then sliced Tector straight to extra cover.
So much for rotating the strike! But Bethell’s cameo of 24 from 16 balls has moved England closer to a crushing victory.
8th over: England 102-1 (Salt 61, Bethell 10) Bethell is giving the strike to Salt at every opportunity, an obvious tactic but one that not all 21-year-old captains would care for on their big day.
Salt carts Young to cow corner for four, just wide of the diving Campher near the boundary, then smears another past the bowler to bring up the hundred in 7.3 overs. Salt has a chance of another century himself; it would be his fifth, equalling the record of Glenn Maxwell and Rohit Sharma.
England need 95 from 72 balls. Don’t we all.
7th over: England 91-1 (Salt 52, Bethell 8) That cock-up aside it’s a good first over from Tector, who is only an occasional offspinner. No boundaries, seven from it.
Salt caught off a no-ball
Salt slugs a high full toss from the offspinner Harry Tector to deep midwicket – but it’s a front-foot no-ball! Oh, Harry.
Salt races to 20-ball fifty
6th over: England 84-1 (Salt 50, Bethell 5) Salt moves to a 20-ball fifty with a cut for four off McCarthy. Just another day at the T20 office for him. If he’s still in after 10 overs he’ll be eyeing his fifth T20I century.
Salt might be England’s Heinrich Klaasen – not in style or role, but the man whose numbers blow the mind of neutrals around the world. At the time of typing, he has a T20I average of 38 and a strike rate of 171. What even is that?
“It must be so dispiriting to post a solid total and then in the space of 20 balls be staring down the barrel of a now near run-a-ball chase,” says Eddy Nason. “These two opening is a cheat code.”
England may have to change their plans for the World Cup, which involved Ben Duckett opening, possibly Jamie Smith too. I guess Buttler will drop down to No3 but it must be tempting to keep cheating.
5th over: England 74-1 (Salt 45, Bethell 0) In statistical terms Salt and Buttler are the most devastating partnership in T20I history: 1145 runs at an average of 52 and a run-rate of 10.71.
Both the average and the run-rate are the highest among pairs who have added at least 1000 runs.
WICKET! England 74-1 (Buttler c Campher b Buttler 28)
Usually on the OBO we try to provide at least a basic description of every boundary. You can sing for that today! Salt smashes Humphreys for four and six – but now Buttler has gone, caught at mid-on after being done in the flight by Humphreys. Nicely bowled.
Buttler made 28 from 10 balls, and now it’s time for England’s new captain to have a bat.
4th over: England 63-0 (Salt 34, Buttler 28) Craig Young is the latest bowler to trry his luck. Salt lashes his first two balls for four, because in 2025 this is normal behaviour, apparently, but Young does well to stall England for the rest of the over.
Now, who would like a statgasm? Since the start of the T20 against South Africa on Friday, Salt and Buttler have added 189 in 11.5 overs.
Buttler smashes 24 off the third over
3rd over: England 52-0 (Salt 24, Buttler 27) Jos Buttler has been in awesome form of late, the cricketing embodiment of his famous mantra, and he has just belted Graham Hume’s first over for 24.
Where to start? With the almost absent-minded swipe over mid-on for four, I guess. That was followed by an elegantly violent drive over long-off for six and a cuff through the coivers. Hume beat him with a slower ball; Buttler waved the next over mid-off before ending the over with a devastating straight hit for four. Sheesh.
Oh, that brought up the fifty partnership inside three overs.
2nd over: England 30-0 (Salt 24, Buttler 5) Salt picks a slower ball from Barry McCarthy and desecrates it down the ground for six. He follows that with a brusque slap through extra cover and a brusque smear over midwicket for six more. The ball hit the rope on the half-volley.
1st over: England 11-0 (Salt 7, Buttler 4) Phil Salt makes a desperately slow start, taking THREE deliveries to hit his first boundary. Jos Buttler then cuts the last ball of the over, his first, sweetly for four more.
Phil Salt and Jos Buttler, fresh from pulverising South Africa, walk out to begin the England runchase. Ireland will open up with the left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys.
England need 197 to win
20th over: Ireland 196-3 (Tector 61, Dockrell 6) George Dockrell strolls to the middle, picks Jamie Overton up over square leg for six and walks off. Nice work if you can get it, and do it.
Adil Rashid is interviewed on his way off. He says Ireland “played exceptionally well” on a slowish pitch but that England are confident of chasing 197.
WICKET! Ireland 190-3 (Tucker c Buttler b Overton 55)
Tucker brings up a hard-hitting fifty by launching Overton for six over long off. He falls next ball, top-edging a sharp bumper through to Buttler. Lovely innings from Tucker: 55 from 36 balls with four sixes.
Ireland have one delivery remaining.
19th over: Ireland 181-2 (Tector 59, Tucker 48) Tucker clumps Curran for a straight six, the start of a damaging over for England. Tector picks up successive boundaries in the other V, the one behind the batsmen, and Curran ends with 4-0-43-0. Ireland still have an outside chance of reaching 200.
Fifty for Tector
18th over: Ireland 163-2 (Tector 50, Tucker 40) Harry Tector is such a good player. He plonks Adil Rashid emphatically over midwicket for six, his second and Ireland’s ninth, then pushes two down the ground to reach a stylish fifty from 31 balls.
Rashid finishes with figures of 4-0-36-1.
17th over: Ireland 151-2 (Tector 40, Tucker 38) After a strong start to his third over, Curran is pulled witheringly through midwicket for four by Tector. England won’t be worried about the upcoming runchase – good pitch, small ground – but it hasn’t been their best bowling performance.
Nothing much to report in terms of Bethell’s captaincy, not that I’ve seen from the TV anyway.
Play is finally under way at the Oval, where Surrey and Nottinghamshire are involved in a (probable) title decider. Tanya Aldred is there for us.
16th over: Ireland 142-2 (Tector 34, Tucker 36) Dawson ends a reasonable spell, no more of less, with figures of 4-0-39-1.
15th over: Ireland 133-2 (Tector 28, Tucker 34) Luke Wood starts his second spell with a shortish delivery that is spanked through midwicket for four by Tucker. That’s an imperious shot, matched by a drive over long off for six later in the over.
Wood continues a poor over with a wide half-volley that Tector slices over the top for four.
Fifty partnership between Tector and Tucker
14th over: Ireland 118-2 (Tector 24, Tucker 23) Tector pulls Overton for a single to bring up an accomplished fifty partnership from 31 balls. Tucker charges and misses a low full toss that comes this close to violating the off stump. Why have I got Todd Carty on the brain all of a sudden?
Excellent over from Overton, three from it.
Review: Tucker overturns LBW decision
13th over: Ireland 115-2 (Tector 23, Tucker 21) Rashid lets slip a disgusting full toss that is carted over midwicket for six by Tucker. It looked above waist height but a no-ball wasn’t called.
Three balls later Tector is given out LBW on the back foot after playing round a beautiful legbreak. Was it missing off stump? Tector thinks so and has reviewed; I suspect it’s umpire’s call.
I suspect wrong. It would have missed off stump by a whisker so Tucker continues. Gorgeous bowling from Rashid, though, who with one filthy exception was at his mischievous, probing best throughout that over.
12th over: Ireland 103-2 (Tector 23, Tucker 14) Tector and Tucker are class players who will punish England if they don’t sharpen up. Dawson is too straight and swept round the corner for four by Tucker, a boundary that brings up the hundred inside the 12th over.
Tucker ends the over with an even better stroke, lofted down the ground for four more. Beautiful batting.
11th over: Ireland 96-2 (Tector 17, Tucker 8) Sam Curran bowls a leg-side wide that spins past Buttler to the boundary, a moment that should have been soundtracked by the theme from Curb.
Not a great over from Curran, this. A poor ball on leg stump is flicked past short fine leg for four by Tucker.
10th over: Ireland 84-2 (Tector 15, Tucker 4) Rehan Ahmed, playing his first T2o international since the tour of the Caribbean last November, makes a decent start with the ball. His first delivery was cut for four but he kept things relatively tight thereafter.
9th over: Ireland 75-2 (Tector 9, Tucker 1) Ireland aren’t going to die wondering. Tector belts the sixth six of the innings, and his first, with a slog-sweep off Rashid.
WICKET! Ireland 67-2 (Stirling c Jacks b Rashid 34)
Paul Stirling was on the charge. He has just holed out to long on, done in the flight by Adil Rashid, and is on his way for 34 from 22 balls. A good cameo that has given the Ireland innings a bit of momentum.
8th over: Ireland 66-1 (Stirling 34, Tector 1) Paul Stirling is on the charge. He backs away to cream a short ball from Dawson over long off for his fourth six. Stirling has 34 from 21 balls, including 29 off his last 13.
WICKET! Ireland 57-1 (Adair c Salt b Dawson 26)
Liam Dawson makes the breakthrough. Ross Adair mistimed a slog sweep towards deep midwicket, where Phil Salt took a comfortable catch.
7th over: Ireland 57-0 (Stirling 26, Adair 26) Adil Rashid starts with a fullbunger to Stirling, who mauls it down the ground for six more. After that rare loosener, Rashid gets into his work and concedes only a couple of runs from the last five balls.
6th over: Ireland 49-0 (Stirling 19, Adair 25) That blow seems to have sharpened Adair’s senses. He hits 10 off Overton’s last two balls, including a spectacular drive over extra-cover for six, to complete an increasingly good Powerplay for Ireland.
5.4 overs: Ireland 39-0 (Stirling 19, Adair 15) Adair charges Overton, misses a yahoo and is hit on the grille. There’s a short break in play while the physio runs on to do the necessary.
5th over: Ireland 32-0 (Stirling 18, Adair 11) Sam Curran replaces Luke Wood – Monsieur, with these left-armers you’re really spoiling us – and tries a slower ball to Stirling. Wrong! Stirling monsters it over midwicket for his second six.
That aside there’s only one run from five balls, a continuation of Ireland’s inability to rotate strike early on.
4th over: Ireland 25-0 (Stirling 12, Adair 10) Liam Dawson comes into the attack. Ireland’s openers are struggling to time the ball – but Stirling gets enough on a lofted shot to hit Dawson for six over wide mid-off. It’s a relatively short boundary, so it went the distance even though he didn’t middle it.
3rd over: Ireland 16-0 (Stirling 5, Adair 9) Adair slugs Wood’s change-up, the short ball, over midwicket for two; he didn’t time it properly. Those are the only runs off the bat in a good over from Wood.
2nd over: Ireland 13-0 (Stirling 5, Adair 7) Jamie Overton cuts Ross Adair in half with a sharp back-of-a-length delivery. Adair plays his sod-this-for-a-lark card, charging the next ball and slicing it over the infield for two. Not the most convincing shot, though, and he looks a bit uneasy with Overton’s pace.
The moment I type that he plays his most convincing shot by far, a sweet drive through extra cover for four.
1st over: Ireland 7-0 (Stirling 5, Adair 1) Luke Wood takes a couple of deliveries to get going. His first ball is a wide; his first legal delivery is larruped to the cover boundary by Stirling.
The rest of the over is better. An inswinging yorker is well defended by Stirling, who then inside edges past the stumps.
Luke Wood, Lancashire’s left-arm swing bowler, will open up to Paul Stirling and Ross Adair.
“Ireland in mid-September?” begins Robert Wilson, although he did right ‘Dear Rob’ before that and on reflection it was unfair of me to exclude that as you may unjustly deem him a man of few manners. “Iconoclastic meteorological choice, that one. From the last week of September to the third week in May, the Irish sky is black as a bruise, fourteen inches above your eyebrows and it blames you – for everything. It’s a sky for crouching under and thinking of mortality’s sweet release. Forget spin or swing, the ball is more likely to commit suicide than anything else.
“Yes, I admit the sun is splitting the trees here in Paris, but I paid my bloody dues with that sky. I get to put the boot in.
“PS Fluffing a bit of ground fielding in Ireland comes with finger pain that is simply unavailable anywhere else (the Scottish may demur but they’re notorious liars about such things).”
The players line up for the anthems. The weather in Malahide was vile overnight, it says here, but it’s dry now and there’s even a suggestion of sunshine.
Ireland’s winter starts here
The ongoing struggles and frustrations of Irish cricket are covered in this excellent piece from Taha.
A lack of cricket at home is an ongoing problem. Last year Cricket Ireland called off a tour by Australia, and Afghanistan’s visit this summer was also cancelled, the governing body citing “financial reasons”. With no permanent stadium infrastructure, the costs of transforming club grounds into international venues has been a major stumbling block.
“We effectively have to build everything,” says Warren Deutrom, who stepped away as CI’s chief executive last month after 19 years in the job. Up go the temporary stands for England’s visit.
Yet these cancellations come as CI’s annual income jumped from €10.2m (£8.8m) to €16.4m (£14.2m) in 2024 thanks to increased funding from the International Cricket Council. Deutrom’s retort is that the governing body has had to direct more attention to other areas of the sport.
Taha Hashim’s series preview
Harry Tector and Paul Stirling “are the two main threats with the bat” for Ireland, said [Jacob] Bethell. The hosts enter underprepared having not played since June – a completely different story to England – and will be without the whippy left-arm pace of Josh Little, on the mend from a rib injury. Yet the only completed T20 meeting between these two sides brought an Irish victory in Melbourne at the World Cup three years ago, a reminder that it may not be all smooth for Bethell over the coming days.
The teams
Ireland are without some key players, most notably Josh Little and Mark Adair, but can still put out a strong side. Gareth Delany is winning his 100th international cap.
Ireland Stirling (c), R Adair, H Tector, Tucker (wk), Delany, Dockrell, Campher, McCarthy, Hume, Humphreys, Young.
England Salt, Buttler (wk), Bethell (c), Rehan, Banton, S Curran, Jacks, J Overton, Dawson, Rashid, L Wood.
England win the toss and bowl
They’ve only gone and picked Rehan Ahmed – and he’s carded to come in at No4! Rehan and Jamie Overton replace Harry Brook and Jofra Archer, the only changes to the side that marmalised South Africa at Old Trafford last Friday.
Paul Stirling says Ireland would also have bowled first.
If I may borrow a phrase from Michael Holding, pace is pace. And this is a cracking piece from Jim Wallace on what it’s like when bowling 90mph+ feels like the easiest thing in the world.
Preamble
It’s 23 October 2003 – no, really, it is! – and England’s inaugural Test match against Bangladesh is becoming a bit of struggle. After dominating the first two days, they slip from 137 for 0 to 295 all out, with Marcus Trescothick thwacking 111 and Graham Thorpe* batting almost four hours for a skilful 64. “A pretty sorry first-innings effort” is the verdict of Dan Rookwood on the Guardian OBO.
Bangladesh finished the day on 12 for 1 in their second innings, a deficit of 80, and England hit the hay with a slippery fourth-innings chase on their mind. (Spoiler alert: England eventually cantered to a target of 164 inside 40 overs to win by seven wickets.)
On the same day, a Bajan couple welcomed their first child into the world. Graham and Giselle Bethell christened him Jacob Graham, and they will be among the proudest people on earth today when he captains England in the first T20 international against Malahide.
Feeling old? Don’t worry you are. When Bethell was born, Sugababes were top of the hit parade with Hole in the Head, England were a month away from winning the men’s rugby World Cup, Twenty20 cricket was barely four months old and nobody was suffering death by a thousand notifications.
At 21 years 329 days, Bethell will demolish the record for England’s youngest-ever captain, set unknowingly by Montague Bowden (23y 144d) in 1888-89. Scheduling a match in Malahide in mid-September comes with certain meteorological risks, but the weather is fine and there’s no danger of a washout. Ireland’s aim is turn Bethell’s big day into a damp squib.
The match starts at 1.30pm
* If you love Thorpey as much as the rest of us, this interview with the great Don McRae before that Bangladesh series is a fascinating and poignant read. I don’t know whether it needs a trigger warning or not but, if it counts for anything, I had a lump in my throat when I read it
