STATS ANALYSIS
Follow UsWilley etches his name into the record books
David Willey on course to his first 5-wicket haul, became the first English left-arm pacer to bag a fifer in ODIs. In the first ODI of the series, Willey registered a spell of 5/30. Prior to that spell, Alan Mullally’s returns of 4/18 against the Australia in 1999 was the best for an English left-arm pacer. Mullally with 63 wickets is the most successful left-arm pacer for England in ODIs. At present with 59 wickets Willey is in 2nd position.
A positive start
Curtis Campher was possibly the only positive for Ireland in the three match ODI series. On debut, he scored an excellent unbeaten knock of 59 in the 1st ODI and proved his worth at the senior level. His score of 59 is the second-best score for an Irish batsman on debut. The England skipper Eoin Morgan tops that list with 99 when he made his ODI debut for Ireland against Scotland in 2006. Campher’s score of 59* is also the second-best by a debutant at number 7 in ODIs, Charles Amini of PNG scored 61* in 2014. In the 2nd ODI as well the newbie was at his best scoring 68.
A record-equaling innings
In the 2nd ODI, Ireland had put on a better show by scoring 212. But most of the run-chase for England was eased courtesy a blazing innings by Jonny Bairstow. He scored a 21-ball half-century, equaling Morgan in the list of fastest fifties for England in ODIs. Morgan had also smashed a 21-ball fifty against Australia in 2018. Since 2018 in ODIs, Bairstow has scored 14 fifty-plus scores out of which 13 are with a strike-rate of over 100. In fact, his strike-rate of 111 as an opener is the best in ODIs among openers with more than 1500 runs.
Equal with Joe Root
En route his blistering innings of 82 in the 2nd ODI, Bairstow reached the 3000-run mark when he was on 75. He took 72 innings to reach the landmark, the exact number of innings that Joe Root took to become the fastest English batsman to that landmark. Overall, he is the joint-fifth fastest to reach 3000 runs in ODIs. His game has gone to another level when he started to open the innings, he has scored 2360 runs as an opener, which is 78.4% of his runs. In ODI history, only three players have a strike-rate of more than 105 and Average more than 40 (min. 3000 runs). All of them incidentally are regulars of the English ODI setup.
Adil Rashid among the top five
Adil Rashid courtesy of his 3-wicket haul against Ireland in the 2nd ODI, reached 150 ODI wickets. He became the 5th English bowler and the only spinner to achieve this feat for England. He reached the landmark in 102 matches, hence, becoming the third-quickest England bowler in ODIs and the sixth-quickest spinner to 150 wickets overall. He became the 23rd spinner overall and only the 7th non-Asian spinner to reach 150 wickets in ODIs.
The Irish special
Reminiscent to the 2011 World Cup match between the two sides at Bengaluru, where Kevin O'Brien’s blistering knock of 113 off 63 propelled Ireland to victory chasing a target of 328, Paul Stirling did an encore in the 3rd ODI at Southampton. Chasing a similar target of 329, Ireland were off to a flyer thanks to the opener. He scored a half-century in 52 balls and a century off 96 balls. His 142 off 128 balls consisted of 9 fours and 6 sixes. By virtue of his 142, he went past Kevin O’Brien's 113 in 2011, which was the best score by an Irish batsman against an English side.
A captain's knock
Andrew Balbirnie is just six matches old as captain in ODIs for Ireland. He played a stellar innings in the 3rd ODI where he scored a fantastic century alongside Stirling. He made 113 of 112 deliveries and shared a 214-run partnership with Stirling, their second-best for any wicket in ODIs. He became the only other Irish captain apart from William Porterfield to score a century in ODIs. Porterfield has 9 centuries as Ireland captain. With Morgan scoring a century in the 1st innings and Balbirnie in the 2nd, this was only the 5th instance of both captains scoring centuries in the same match in ODIs.
Hunting down the lions in their own den
After setting a target of 329, England were in a comfortable position. But, Ireland had different plans as their skipper and vice-skipper played a major role in the chase. This chase of 329 was the highest chase by a team against England in England. Prior to this 326 was chased by India at Lord’s in the 2002 Natwest Tri-Series final. Overall, in ODIs, this was the joint-fourth highest successful chase against England in ODIs.
