Ireland secured an historic three-wicket win in the third ODI after Alana Dalzell smashed the final delivery of the match and the first ball she had faced over the top, and a fumble by Hollie Armitage allowed the ball to trickle over the boundary for the runs needed.
The home side’s captain, Gaby Lewis, had struck 72 to give her team the chance of reaching their 155-run target in a rain-affected game. The win is only Ireland’s second ever victory against England in any form of cricket – the first coming way back in 2001 – and comes just two days after England pulled off a record 275-run win against their hosts.
In a match reduced to 22 overs a side, Lewis shared 50 partnerships with the 18-year-old prodigy Amy Hunter and with Leah Paul, bringing her side to within 18 runs of victory in their chase of 155.
Lauren Filer snatched two wickets in the 19th over through sheer pace – Lewis nicked off behind and Paul top-edging a pull to Bess Heath behind the stumps – and with eight runs needed from Mady Villiers’ final over, Ireland lost three wickets in successive balls.
But with three runs needed from the final ball, Alana Dalzell smashed her first ball over the top and a fumble by Hollie Armitage at long-on allowed the ball to trickle over the boundary for four and seal Ireland’s win.
Earlier, the left-arm spinner Aimee Maguire, who celebrated her 18th birthday on Monday and was playing in only her seventh one-day international, returned remarkable figures of five for 19 in 3.5 overs, the fourth best ever for Ireland in women’s ODIs. Maguire was battling persistent heavy rain and a wet ball, but nonetheless became the architect of an England collapse which led them to lose five wickets for 19 runs in 24 balls.
Tossing it up, Maguire tempted the England batters into going for huge shots but had Freya Kemp and Kate Cross stumped, bowled Paige Scholfield and Filer, and had Villiers pulling straight to deep midwicket.
Fresh from her record-breaking 150 on Monday, Tammy Beaumont once again looked a cut above the rest, driving down the ground and executing the ramp shot with ease to bring up a 39-ball half-century. But three balls later she was caught at deep midwicket trying a little bit too hard to move the score along. At 118 for seven there was a real risk that England might capitulate completely, but a fiery cameo of 17 from 13 balls by Ryana MacDonald-Gay moved their total into the realms of respectability.
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Cricket Ireland had only just fitted in a toss, won by England, before the rain fell. Both captains had to take shelter under a shared umbrella to explain their team choices, and it was four and a half hours before Cross could make good her decision to bat first.
Even then, further showers peppered play, leading to a further reduction to 22 overs apiece. England’s batters had spent the day kicking around a football between the showers to keep warm, but when the time came to exercise their cricketing skills, they were less successful, bowled out for 153 with seven balls of their available 22 overs going unused.
