After winning the first One-Day International (ODI) of the three-match series against Ireland, England defeated the visitors in the second ODI as well to clinch the first limited-overs series post coronavirus pandemic.
It was a breathtaking show from England’s attacking opener Jonny Bairstow, who completely demolished the Irish bowling attack on Saturday (August 01) at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. The 30-year-old went on to score a jaw-dropping 41-ball 82 runs knock to make sure England captured the series easily.
Bairstow slammed 14 fours and two sixes during his destructive innings. Speaking about maximums, during the eighth over of England’s innings bowled by Andy McBrine, Bairstow went downtown and smashed a scintillating six. McBrine bowled a slow delivery outside off-stump, and Bairstow picked the length early as he came down the track, got close to the ball and sent it over long-off for a maximum.
Here’s the video:
That is some shot from Jonny!
Our joint-fastest ODI half-century 🔥 pic.twitter.com/3c74AnYLOD
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 1, 2020
With the six, Bairstow completed his ODI career’s 12th half-century. Not only that, but the wicket-keeper batsman also managed to score joint-fastest fifty in ODIs for England.
Fastest fifty for England in ODIs:
- 21 – Eoin Morgan v AUS, Trent Bridge 2018
- 21 – Jonny Bairstow v IRE, Southampton 2020*
- 22 – Jos Buttler v PAK, Trent Bridge 2016
The Bradford-born also reached the 3000-run landmark in ODI cricket and became the joint quickest Englishman to do so. Bairstow reached the milestone in 72 innings.
Fewest innings to 3000 ODI runs for England:
- 72 – Joe Root/ Jonny Bairstow*
- 76 – Graham Gooch/ Jason Roy/ Kevin Pietersen
- 82 – Nick Knight/ Marcus Trescothick
- 84 – Alastair Cook
- 85 – Allan Lamb
Apart from Bairstow, Sam Billings (46 not out) and David Willey (47 not out), made crucial contributions to take the hosts over the finish line with 17.3 overs to spare.
Earlier, Ireland posted 212/9 in 50 overs, thanks to youngster Curtis Campher (68) who scored his second fifty in the series and took his side to go past the 200-run mark. Simi Singh and Andrew McBrine also assisted well with their scores of 25 and 24 respectively.
