This was supposed to be Ireland’s big occasion: the first time their women’s team have been televised free-to-air at home; and the follow-up to their famous win on Wednesday, only their second against England in a one-day international.
Instead, the first T20i turned into a rout, as Bryony Smith smashed a maiden international fifty, the debutant Seren Smale took to this level like a duck to water with a 19-ball 25, a catch, a stumping and a sharp run-out behind the stumps, and England bowled Ireland out for 109 within 19 overs to win by 67 runs.
Smith was playing in her first international match since September 2022, but treated Ireland’s best bowler, Orla Prendergast, with disdain, uppercutting her to the boundary three times in the fifth over, which went for 20. She was utterly dominant in an opening partnership of 72 with Tammy Beaumont, who scored just eight runs in the time it took Smith to bring up 50.
Put in to bat, England were strongly positioned at the halfway stage with 96 on the board and only one wicket down, but Ireland staged a fightback to bowl them out for 176 off the final ball.
The left-arm spinner Aimee Maguire, who returned figures of five for 19 in Ireland’s historic ODI win in Belfast, was once again instrumental in the collapse, finishing with three for 30, including having Smale stumped for 25. Mady Villiers drove her way to 35 from just 15 balls but holed out to extra cover in the penultimate over, becoming the second of three victims for the off-spinner Freya Sargent. Meanwhile, Prendergast snaffled three catches at deep midwicket, despite nursing a bandaged hand.
Prendergast followed it up with a 32-ball half-century, but it was a lone hand as Ireland sunk to 58 for six in the opening 10 overs of the chase, before Prendergast herself was run out in the 13th over – a sharp Smale whipping off the bails after Prendergast tried to push for a second run.
Issy Wong – herself staging a return to international cricket after a year on the sidelines caused by a dramatic loss in form last summer – took wickets in successive overs in the powerplay, including a beauty which moved back in off the seam to bowl Gaby Lewis.
England’s 6ft prodigy Mahika Gaur, an 18-year-old left-arm seamer, also picked up a wicket in her first competitive match since May, while another English debutant, the left-arm spinner Charis Pavely, finished with tidy figures of three for 19, including a sharp catch off her own bowling.
after newsletter promotion
The result made a mockery of the bold claim by Lewis, Ireland’s captain, that she was “looking forward to a 2-0 series win this weekend”. Ireland are ranked 10th in T20 cricket, while England sit second, so it was a claim that would have raised eyebrows on both sides of the Irish Sea; and even more so, given England’s preeminence in this game. The second T20 international is at the same venue on Sunday.
For the second time in a week, England staged a lengthy cap presentation before play, with debuts handed to four players – Smale, Pavely, Paige Scholfield and Georgia Adams all playing in their first T20.
At 30, Adams – the daughter of the former England men’s Test batter Chris – has awaited her full England cap longer than most, and a hint of nerves plagued her run-a-ball 16, which was ended by Prendergast’s catch in the deep. But she followed it up with a blinder of a catch running backwards from mid-on to see off Amy Hunter – the first domino toppling, as England raced to an all-round comprehensive win.
