Centuries from Morgan and Bopara help England get past Ireland

Morgan, leading from the front, sealed the match for England

England captain Eoin Morgan, winning the toss and electing to field first, helped his team chase down a competitive target of 269, after being reduced to 48/4 in their only ODI match against Ireland at Dublin.

Morgan and Bopara, registering centuries to their name, put together an unbeaten 226 run partnership to get their team out of trouble and win the match with seven overs to spare

Batting first, Ireland captain William Porterfield, who managed to survive the probing opening spell from England fast bowlers Steven Finn and Boyd Rankin, made the most of his fortune by carrying on to score a century (112 off 142 balls). Rankin, on his debut, accounted for Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce in his first spell, the first two wickets that fell on the day.

James Tredwell, introduced when Ireland were on 63/2, was impressive from the start not giving away any leeway for the batsmen to settle in. He picked up the crucial wickets of Niall O’ Brien and Gary Wilson, with the deliveries that turned in.

Porterfield, past his fifty by then, continued to battle despite the lack of support from his batsmen. He reached his century with a six of Rankin, in 131 deliveries. Led by their captain, Ireland managed to put up 269 runs on the board.

In reply to a challenging target at their sight, England found themselves in tatters after having been reduced to 48 runs for the loss of four wickets in 14.5 overs. Tim Murtagh was the wrecker-in-chief, picking up three England wickets – that of Luke Wright, James Taylor and Gary Ballance. Veteran fast bowler dismissed debutant Michael Carberry for just ten runs of his bat.

With 222 runs required off 35 overs, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara had a serious task on hand with only Ben Stokes and Jos Butler to follow.  They did it in style, combining to put together an unbeaten 226 run partnership in just 169 deliveries.  In the process, they also scored their centuries, with Ravi Bopara on 101 off 75 balls and Morgan 124 off just 106 balls.