After the coronavirus hiatus, England made a phenomenal return to ODI cricket with a six-wicket victory over Ireland at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Thursday.
Chasing just 173 to win, and without a number of regulars who are away with the Test squad, England were stuttering at 78-4.
But captain Eoin Morgan (36 not out) and Sam Billings, who scored unbeaten 67, shared an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 96 to seal the victory with 22.1 overs to spare.
Returning players making a big impression! 👏
Full highlights: https://t.co/YBX1xnAtTi#ENGvIRE pic.twitter.com/gqSXyrNyLb
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 30, 2020
Left-arm fast bowler David Willey earlier marked his England recall by taking his maiden five-wicket haul in international cricket.
Willey, playing his first international game since being left out of the 2019 World Cup squad, took four wickets in his first four overs with the new ball and then returned to pick up the final wicket of the Ireland innings, finishing with 5-30.
FIVE for @David_Willey! 🖐
His maiden ODI five-for 👍
Scorecard/clips: https://t.co/H7fH5ZXv4M pic.twitter.com/229RBtZ3Fs
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 30, 2020
The Irish side was reeling on 28/5 at one stage and could have suffered a far heavier defeat but was saved by an unbeaten 59 from 21-year-old debutant Curtis Campher. Together with Andy McBrine (40), Campher shared a stand of 66 runs for the eighth wicket, taking Ireland over 140+ score.
5️⃣0️⃣ on debut for Curtis Campher! 🎉
A tremendous innings under pressure from the 21-year-old 👏 #ENGvIRE pic.twitter.com/Pa9kEJCMEX
— ICC (@ICC) July 30, 2020
The win against Ireland has given England 10 points in their first game of the newly formed ICC World Cup Super League and a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Like the recent Test series against West Indies, all these matches are being played behind closed doors in a bio-secure bubble with two more ODIs to follow at the same venue on Saturday (August 1) and Tuesday (August 4).
Brief scores: Ireland 172 in 44.4 overs (Curtis Campher 59 not out; David Willey 5-30, Saqib Mahmood 2-36) lost to England 174/4 in 27.5 overs (Sam Billings 67 not out, Eoin Morgan 36 not out; Craig Young 2-56) by six wickets.
