ENGLAND have it easy over IRELAND

ICC 10th WOMEN's WORLD CUP - Match 8 – England vs Ireland at Southampton on 16th June 2026. 

Result – England beat Ireland by 4 wickets
Points – England 2(4), Ireland 0(0)
Toss – England
Umpires – N Janani, Vrinda Rathi, Kerrin Klaste (TV)
Player of the Match – Sophie Ecclestone

Match Centre Link - You can view the scorecard, watch highlights and engage more at Match Centre of ICC. The match can be accessed here. 

IRELAND INNINGS

ADVANTAGE ENGLAND
The 8th match of the 10th Womens T20 World Cup featured defending two teams from the British Isles, the mighty England and the rising Ireland. The match was delayed by rain that poured on after Sri Lanka stunned New Zealand. There was thankfully no loss in overs when play resumed. England won the toss and wisely chose to bowl given the damp conditions. Lauren Bell bowled the first ball to Amy Hunter and it strayed down the leg. Amy amiably put it over fine leg for a boundary. After a change in striker, Lauren held back Alana Dalzell with 4 dot balls. Linsey Smith operated from other end and had the batters guessing. After 2 runs in 5 balls, she had Amy hunted by a ball that spun fast and well before Amy could sweep it fine. Alana had a boundary of Lauren’s ball that strayed on the leg side this time. The 5^th ball of the over brought skipper Gaby Lewis in strike for the first time and she tried to scoop first ball and was brilliantly taken by Heather Knight. Orla Prendergast walked in after the golden duck. Linsey slipped one quick and Alana scored a lovely boundary of the 5^th ball over long off. Charlie Dean made it spin from both ends. In the 3^rd ball, Alana cut one low but Freya had a good catch at covers. Charlie’s first over was a wicket maiden. England’s best spinner Sophie Ecclestone came to close the power play. Orla brought 2 brilliant shots to get 2 lovely boundaries and ended the power play with a 13 run over. At end of power play, it seemed advantage England with Ireland at 38/3. All hopes rested on Orla.

DOMINANT BOWLING
Orla began the 7^th over pounding Charlie’s leg side delivery over backward square for a boundary. Charlie and Freya Kemp kept the batters at bay with 7 of the next 9 balls turning dots. Rebecca Stokell pulled one in frustration and it beat Linsey for a boundary. Sophie replaced Charlie and she drew Rebecca out of the crease, deceived her with spin and Amy Jones completed the stumping in a flash. Leah Paul should have joined Gaby Lewis for a golden duck but Nat Sciver Brunt couldn’t hold on as she flung herself to the ball. England switched to pace with Dani Gibson and Orla welcomed her with a boundary of a short ball. A dot ball later, Dani had her revenge when Orla inside edged a back length delivery to the stumps. After 10 overs, Ireland were at 57/5 with batters Leah Paul and Alice Tector yet to open their account. Charlie came back and conceded just 2 runs in the 11^th over. Freya quickly went through the 12^th over giving away only 4 runs. Linsey kept the batters in check with a 5 run 13^th over. Dani came to bowl the 14^th & bowled 2 lovely deliveries in the 3^rd & 5^th ball, but both became boundaries beating the batter & keeper. However Dani closed the over by taking Alice whose pull coming down the wicket ended in a simple catch to skipper Nat. Charlie Dean came to bowl her final over and after conceding a four to Leah finished her spell by getting Leah leg before wicket. Louise Little and Arlene Kelly were both new to the crease as Lauren returned for the 16^th over. Louise got a little bit of luck when she edged Lauren’s first ball for a much needed boundary. Arlene was even more lucky in the last ball as her nick spilled out of Amy’s gloves to hit her thigh. England were all over Ireland as the score read 89/7 in 16 overs. Given the dominating performance of the England bowlers, it seemed that Ireland may be bowled out before 100 the way.

A FLICKER OF HOPE
Louise and Arlene were hanging on as Sophie quickly completed a 4 run 17^th over. Linsey was equally quick in the 5 run 18^th over. Arlene perished in the 1^st ball of the penultimate over as she slogged Sophie’s delivery in vain only to find Heather at mid off. Two singles and Ireland 100 later, Sophie had Cara Murray’s mistiming her slog and giving Alice Capsey a catch at mid on this time. Ireland were tottering at 101/9 with Lauren coming in to close the innings. Louise gave Ireland more than little joy as she clobbered Lauren for 4 boundaries in the over. She cross batted the 2^nd ball, carved the 3^rd ball, top edged the 5^th & heaved the last ball. Ireland werent bowled out and the 17 run last over saw them get to a decent total of 118. 119 was in no way a trivial target for England, but Louise gave Ireland some hope and momentum.

ENGLAND INNINGS

ADVANTAGE IRELAND
Aimee Maguire bowled the first ball to Amy Jones which was dipped to the leg side for a single. Danny Wyatt Hodge brought the first boundary of England innings in the 5^th ball to complete a 6 run over. Orla Prendergast began well in the other end and conceded just 2 runs. Arlene Kelly came in first change and conceded a couple of boundaries to Danny. The 4^th over began quite dramatically as Amy Jones’s scoop spilled out of keeper Amy Hunter’s glove. Amy Jones then produced a glorious cover drive of Orla to get 7 of the over. Amy’s luck was short lived and she hit the first ball of Aimee straight to Gaby Lewis at cover. I felt trifle unlucky having missed “Amy c Amy b Aimee”. The Amy Gaby combo struck again as Danny produced an action replay of Amy’s shot in the 4^th ball and met with the same fielder and fate. Skipper Nat Sciver Brunt and Alice Capsey were the occupants of the batting crease now. Orla came to bowl her 3^rd over on trot and her 3^rd ball was pulled by Alice with panache for a lovely boundary. Orla came back the very next ball and yorked Alice who played around and lost her stumps. As the power play came to close, England were 35/3 with same number of wickets and 3 runs less than Ireland. However England had two veterans Nat and Heather Knight on the crease.

THE OLD WAR HORSES
Cara Murray bowled the 7^th over and gifted Nat a short ball first ball. Nat gleefully put it past mid on. Ireland switched to pace and brought in Alana Dalzell. Nat welcomed her first ball with a pull over midwicket. Nat found another boundary in Cara’s 9^th over as Heather was quietly scoring runs in ones and twos till she couldn’t resist Alana serving one full on leg in the 10^th over which was deposited to backward square with authority. At half way mark, England were 71/3 and the old guards were in total control. Arlene Kelly in the 11^th & Alana Danzell in the 12^th didn’t give anything, but Nat & Heather still picked 15 runs without boundaries. Aimee was brought back for the 13^th & she gifted Heather a full toss which she put to full use for a boundary over midwicket. Orla, the most impressive of Irish bowlers came to bowl the 14^th over. In the 5^th ball, she beat Heather who came forward. Umpire Janani and I were sure that it would miss the leg stump. But DRS thought otherwise and Hawk Eye was confident it would clip the leg stump. Heather went out with England one short of 100 and a couple of overs short of a win. Aimee and Alice restricted extras and boundaries in the next 10 balls and England were dealing in singles. However in the 5^th ball of the 16^th over, Nat found a boundary thanks to a poor fielding effort in the deep. With her score at 48 and England 10 short of the target, Nat simply retired herself out. It was a flummoxing decision but Dani Gibson joined Freya Kemp in the middle as England walked in to the death overs with a Nelson 111/5

EASY PICKINGS
Cara came in to bowl the 17^th and after keeping Freya without scoring in the first 2 balls, she had her run out in search of a quick single. The new batter Charlie Dean was greeted with a couple of dots before Charlie who bowled a maiden over in the first innings denied Cara one by striking one through covers for a boundary. England needed just 5 and Alice gave away the winning runs with a wide. England chased 119 with 4 wickets and nearly 3 overs to spare.  Ireland did start well but were blunted by the veterans Nat Sciver Brunt and Heather Knight both having experience of 140 T20Is and not to mention their rich franchise league experience. England had an easy win and Ireland’s hopeful fightback in the death overs while batting and bright start in powerplay while bowling were positives.