Alice Capsey<\/a>, further jangling English nerves.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m very proud of the girls,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cAll I asked at half-time is that we make those 119 runs as hard as possible for them to get, and we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As so often, it was left to the wise old heads of Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight to take a breath and bring some calm in a partnership worth 64 from 49 balls. Bazball it certainly was not, but it got the job done, helped along by a procession of Irish bowlers whose name was not Prendergast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know each other very well, keep things pretty simple, pretty calm,\u201d Knight said. \u201cNat\u2019s huge in our side. The situation tonight, having her calmness and composure and experience to play like she did. We\u2019re really hopeful that she\u2019ll be fine. But we\u2019ll cross that bridge and cope if we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time the right-armer returned in the 14th over, trapping Knight leg-before, England needed just 20 from 37. Though Sciver-Brunt retired hurt and Freya Kemp was run out in the dying minutes of the game, Charlie Dean stroked one through the covers for four and Alice Tector finished things off in anticlimactic fashion in the 18th over with a leg-side wide.<\/p>\n
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt surprisingly left the field retired hurt on 48 with nine still needed for victory. Photograph: Cat Goryn\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n
The match had begun an hour late due to rain, shaping Sciver-Brunt\u2019s decision to bowl first in overcast conditions. Lauren Bell and Linsey Smith have opened the bowling here many a time for Southern Vipers and Hampshire, though it perhaps felt slightly different to have a crowd of over 9,000 cheering their wickets this time. Dean, formerly of this parish, chimed in with a wicket maiden in the powerplay, finishing with two for 11 \u2013 her best ever showing in a World Cup. And Sophie Ecclestone, who had looked off-colour on Friday, was punished for 13 runs from her first over but counterpunched with three wickets.<\/p>\n
Last September, Lewis hit a hundred at this very ground for Lancashire in the One-Day Cup final, finishing the day by holding the trophy aloft. But any hopes of a repeat performance here were dashed when she ramped her first ball into the hands of short backward square and departed for a duck. Meanwhile Prendergast smoked four beautiful boundaries, only to chop a nothing ball from Dani Gibson onto her own stumps.<\/p>\n
That left Ireland 57 for five at the halfway stage, struggling to even reach three figures, at least until No 8 Louise Little answered Ireland\u2019s call with a cameo of 26 not out from 15 balls \u2013 her highest score for Ireland. Little missed out on selection for Saturday\u2019s match against Scotland, and was only playing in this match because Ava Canning has been sent for a precautionary scan on her lower back. But the 23-year-old added a touch of swagger to the Ireland innings when she dispatched Bell\u2019s 20th over for 17 runs \u2013 albeit aided by a misfield from Linsey Smith on the boundary rope.<\/p>\n
There was a certain irony in the fact that Sri Lanka \u2013 whom England absolutely thumped in Friday\u2019s tournament opener \u2013 had earlier masterminded a much higher run-chase of 151 against New Zealand on this same pitch. The shock result leaves the reigning champions on the brink of elimination, with two losses from two matches.<\/p>\n
It also throws Group B wide open. The winner of Thursday\u2019s match between Scotland and West Indies will be in pole position to progress to the knockout stages alongside leaders England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England survived a wobble against Ireland on Tuesday at Southampton, recovering from 35 for three to chase down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-503529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}