Salt Guides England to First T20 Triumph Against the Irish Side

Opening T20, Malahide

The hosts 196-3 (20 overs): Tector 61* (36), Lorcan Tucker 55 (36)

England 197-6 (17.4 overs): Salt 89 (46)

The English side won by 4 wickets and top the contest 1-0

The explosive opener once more starred for the English team as they overcame their opponents by 4 wickets in the first match of a three-match T20 contest in Malahide.

Salt blasted eighty-nine off forty-six balls but came up short of what would have been his back-to-back consecutive hundred when he was caught by Ross Adair with the final ball of the fifteenth over.

However, Salt had done most of the back of the chase for his team, who completed the job of chasing the host's 196 for three with over two overs to spare.

Travelling without their all-format stars, the side were captained by the young skipper for the initial time, with the 21-year-old scoring 24 off sixteen balls before a tame shot to extra cover just as he appeared to be going through the rhythm.

In what was their first international of any kind since a T20 victory over the Caribbean side on 15 June, Ireland will have believed their tally, which included fifties for both Tector and Lorcan Tucker, was a competitive one.

But just less than a week after their remarkable 304-2 against the Proteas on a historic night in Manchester, a much-changed England began their reply in emphatic fashion before the hosts battled back for some consolation wickets.

This victory represented England's maiden win over Ireland in the T20 format in what was their second-ever full game, and the two sides will meet again at the same venue on the next match and Sunday.

On the day when the young captain became the most junior player to captain an England team, his first act as the regular skipper's temporary skipper was to successfully call the toss and put the opponents in to bat first.

Amid all the pre-match talk about the volume of cricket, or shortage, played by the Irish team in the build-up to this contest, there will have been plenty of interest in how openers Paul Stirling and Ross Adair fared.

While there were undoubtedly a few instances when the pair appeared to be looking for their timing in the early overs, they were 49-0 at the end of the first six overs, with the skipper in particular providing some big hitting.

Of the captain's four sixes, two were hit onto the top of the pavilion at the small ground in Malahide.

After providing the solid start, the opening pair fell in rapid succession with Adair taken on the boundary by Phil Salt in the 8th over when attempting a shot over the on side off the bowling of Dawson.

Nine deliveries and ten runs later, Paul Stirling was also out after swiping at the bowling of Adil Rashid with Jacks taking the grab.

The arrivals of Harry Tector and then Lorcan Tucker to the wicket saw the batting side take an increased number of ones for the rest of their batting effort but Tector still added seven boundaries in his not out 61 from thirty-six balls.

Tector, who reached his own half-century with a shot for a maximum, almost batted to the end of the innings, only to deflect the penultimate delivery into the hands of Jos Buttler.

Lacking the availability of Mark Adair and Josh Little in their attack, it was the left-arm spin of Humphreys who opened the host bowling against Phil Salt in the English opener's first innings since reaching a century off just 39 balls against South Africa at Manchester recently.

The batting side rapidly set about chasing down their goal of one hundred and ninety-seven.

After Barry McCarthy and Graham Hume could discover no answer for England's big-hitting, Young somewhat slowed their fast progress in the fourth over, before Humphreys' second spell saw the wicketkeeper loft one to Campher to be dismissed for twenty-eight off ten balls.

Despite the loss of their opening wicket, England still finished the powerplay on 84-1 with Salt's half-century coming off just twenty deliveries.

Salt would survive being dismissed off a Tector illegal delivery but kept to knock Ireland's bowlers to every part of the stadium.

The captain's dismissal came after striking a maximum over the temporary stand before Gareth Delany marked his hundredth Irish cap with the wicket of Rehan Ahmed.

Despite Hume took the dismissals of Sam Curran and the opener in the 15th over, England always looked likely for the win with Jamie Overton ultimately providing the decisive runs with 20 deliveries to go.