Win or bust for England against Australia after Ireland shock
Jos Buttler’s side struggled with the ball early on before restricting Ireland to 157 all out.
But, after losing early wickets, England never got ahead of the required rate in their chase and were five runs short when the rain fell after 14.3 overs.
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Match highlights of Ireland securing a famous victory over England with a five-run DLS method win in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022.
The England captain had no complaints over the decision to come off the field, saying: “It (the rain) was getting quite heavy. Of course, we'd love to stay on and try to hit a couple of sixes if we could, but it got heavy.
“I think the game was lost before that point. I think we were a long way short of where we needed to be right throughout the game, and Ireland deserved to win.”
Instead, Buttler pointed fingers at his bowlers, who he said executed their plans poorly in the first half of Ireland’s innings, with Andrew Balbirnie taking advantage with a 47-ball 62.
“I think, especially in the first ten overs with the ball, we were a long way short of the standards we set ourselves,” Buttler said.
“We let Ireland get away from us, and I thought we dragged it back well in the second half, but that put a lot of pressure on us.”
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Australia v England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was always going to be one of the biggest fixtures of the group stage.
But Friday’s fixture is now even more of a must-watch, with the match effectively an early eliminator.
“Of course, we wanted to be going into that game having won two games from two,” Buttler said. “But at some point in this tournament, the way it's set up, you're in must-win games the majority of the time.
“Of course, Friday is already a big occasion playing Australia at the MCG, and it takes on that extra bit now with both teams having lost one game.”
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Both teams know that a second defeat is likely to be terminal to their qualification chances.
England would have expected to be top and with a strong NRR after two games, with those opening fixtures coming against the teams in Group 1 ranked lowest in the MRF ICC T20I Team Rankings.
But the loss to Ireland and the unconvincing margin of victory over Afghanistan mean England are now vulnerable both in terms of points and NRR
The crushing nature of Australia’s own defeat, against New Zealand, means their NRR is worse than England’s. But that may yet not be a factor if the tournament hosts put together a winning run towards the semis.
The England white-ball set-up are no strangers to coming back from poor starts in World Cup group stages.
The eventually triumphant 2019 Cricket World Cup campaign saw England in real trouble in the Group Stage, facing must-win matches against India and New Zealand in order to reach the semi-finals.
But win those matches they did, and that experience will give the squad confidence ahead of a similar task ahead against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
“There's a lot of experienced cricketers in our dressing room who have been set back certain times in their career, whether it be the 2019 World Cup, whether it be in a franchise tournament, whether it be before in international cricket,” Buttler said.
“Certainly, guys who understand how to deal with the emotions of great disappointment like today, got to deal with it. There's no point in trying to hide away with the feelings you have. You've got to deal with those very quickly.”
Friday 28 October: Australia v England, MCG, Melbourne
Tuesday 01 November: England v New Zealand, The Gabba, Brisbane
Saturday 05 November: Sri Lanka v England, SCG, Sydney