T20 World Cup: England will be fired-up for Australia date at MCG, says Jos Buttler after shock loss to Ireland
England captain Jos Buttler conceded that the former champions were comfortably outplayed by Ireland in their T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 match on Wednesday but stressed.
The Three Lions will be fired-up when they face Australia in a crucial match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
England were shocked by Ireland by 5 runs in a rain-affected match in Melbourne. Despite opting to bowl on a day when showers were forecast in the city, England were outplayed by a brave Ireland side, led by their captain Andrew Balbirnie. On the other hand, England skipper Jos Buttler went out for a duck as the 2010 champions huffed and puffed to 105 for 5 in 14.3 overs.
Just when all-rounder Moeen Ali was taking the attack to the Ireland bowlers, rain arrived and continued to pour down until the cut-off time. Eventually, England lost the encounter by 5 runs via Duckworth Lewis and Stern method.
England and Australia are set to meet in one of the much-anticipated matches in Melbourne. Both teams are heading into the contest on the back of a win and a defeat. Australia, who were hammered by 89 runs in their first Super 12 match against New Zealand, survived a scare against Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka in Perth on Tuesday.
” We know we have made a mistake here and have put more pressure on us, but certainly if you needed a game to get going then England-Australia is one of those,” Buttler said.
England were taken by surprise by Ireland’s top-order which went after their pace bowling unit in the powerplay. Ireland reached 61 at the end of the powerplay and raced to 91 in 10 overs.
However, the Irish side suffered a massive collapse as they lost their last 9 wickets for just 54 runs, getting bowled out for 157 in just 19.2 overs.
DIDN’T TAKE ADVANTAGE
England had the opportunity to force the issue but the early wickets of Buttler and Alex Hales by Joshua Little set them back. England also lost out-of-form Test captain Ben Stokes before Dawid Malan and Harry Brook tried to reconstruct the innings.
“I just don’t think we were consistent enough. I thought we let them score both sides of the wicket. There were some favourable conditions I think for bowling as well. We had everything in our favour winning the toss and electing to field knowing that there was weather around and we didn’t take advantage of that.”
Buttler rued getting out as early as the first over of the chase and the fact that England missed out on an opportunity to put pressure on the Ireland bowlers at any point in their chase.
“I think obviously myself getting out in the first over is never ideal. Puts pressure on and we never managed to grab the initiative. I thought they (Ireland) bowled well, they used the wicket well. But again, I think, you know, we needed people to stand up and show that. I mean, we never quite managed to wrestle that initiative.”