Rain’s no pain as England beat Ireland (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Rain’s no pain as England beat Ireland

7:43pm Thursday 25th August 2011 in International cricket

England dodged the rain to battle to an 11-run win over Ireland in Dublin.

Set a revised target of 129 from 23 overs, the Irish could only reach 117-8 with Jade Dernbach picking up 3-30.

Earlier, England made 201-8 in 42 overs as Jonathan Trott laboured to make 69 from 105 balls and stand-in captain Eoin Morgan hit a fluent 59.

Ireland were 42-2 when the rain altered the chase and Kevin O'Brien (26) gave them hope, but the contest was as good as over when he was bowled by Dernbach.

A young England team containing debutants James Taylor, Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick looked less than impressive on a slow pitch at Clontarf, but in the end did enough to ensure the shock World Cup defeat by the Irish was not repeated.

Losing the toss on his return to his home city, Morgan was soon in the middle after Craig Kieswetter edged John Mooney behind and Taylor skied Boyd Rankin to square leg.

After the rain reduced the England innings by eight overs, Morgan was quickly into his stride, making the progress at the other end by Trott, playing his first game since recovering from a shoulder injury, look all the more pedestrian.

Morgan reached 50 in 52 balls and, despite offering a sharp return catch to Nigel Jones, his progress was so serene that it was a surprise when he was caught and bowled off a leading edge by off-spinner Paul Stirling.