Ireland Women may have fallen to defeat to hosts England, however, their performance defending a small target was commended widely after a display of disciplined bowling backed up by outstanding fielding and catching under lights.
Unexpected rain met the two sides as they sought to prepare ahead of the match, however, once that abated the game began with no loss of overs.
mAfter losing the toss, Ireland was put in to bat first in amenable bowling conditions, and soon found themselves three wickets down in the powerplay. Amy Hunter (6), Gaby Lewis (0) and Alana Dalzell (14) were back in the pavilion by the sixth over and Ireland needed a stabilising partnership to steady the innings.
Orla Prendergast (26) and Rebecca Stokell (9) provided that stability for four overs, but when both batters were dismissed within four balls of each other by the 10th over, Ireland were once more on the back foot.
Leah Paul (10), Alice Tector (10) and Arlene Kelly (7) provided some resistance, but the death overs batting belonged to Louise Little. The 23-year old Pembroke all-rounder blasted a 15-ball 26* – including taking four boundaries off Lauren Bell’s last over.
While 118-9 from 20 overs looked on paper an easy run-chase for one of the world’s best sides, the Irish team lifted and made the English batters work hard for the win.
Prendergast looked at her imperious best with 2-18 from her four overs, and Aimee Maguire once more took the new ball and finished with 2-23.
Gaby Lewis’ outstanding catch at wide mid off to dismiss Amy Jones set the tone for a near impeccable fielding performance.
England looked in control but a brief spell of losing 3-8 in the late powerplay gave them serious pause for thought and tempered their ambitions of a quick run chase.
In the end, Ireland prised out six wickets (and Nat Sciver-Brunt retired hurt) to labour to a 4 wicket win (see scorecard).
Captain Gaby Lewis said afterwards:
“At the innings break, it was disappointing. I think we’d obviously looked to get close to 140, 150, but, after the powerplay especially losing wickets, it didn’t make it easy for those batters coming in the middle to — I guess we didn’t have a platform. In saying that, after the fielding innings, just very proud of the girls. And, all I asked at halftime is that we make those 118 runs as hard as possible for them to get. And yeah, I guess we did that. We left it all out there. And yeah, just really proud of the girls for that fielding innings.”
WHAT DOES THE RESULT MEAN?
Ireland will be disappointed with the batting – as Lewis said, they finished 30 runs or so shy of their target – but given recent criticism of their fielding, the Irish squad can be very proud of the plans, execution and pressure they applied to one of the world’s best sides.
The challenge for Ireland over the next three games remains the same as it was after the last match – win as many games as they can, while simultaneously ensuring their net run rate does not slip any further.
Results elsewhere have shown the Group is wide open, so a couple of wins and results going our way elsewhere could still leave open the possibility of progression.
Granted, it will be tough, but the squad seem up for the fight.
Ireland Women’s next game at the T20 World Cup is on Friday at Southampton against New Zealand in a 6.30pm start.
You can find all the tournament details here: https://cricketireland.ie/series/t20-world-cup-2026/.
MATCH SUMMARY
Ireland Women v England Women, T20I World Cup – 2nd Group Match, Manchester, 16 June 2026
Ireland 118-9 (20 overs; L Little 26*, O Prendergast 26; S Ecclestone 3-22)
England 119-6 (17.1 overs; N Sciver-Brunt 48; O Prendergast 2-18)
England won by 4 wickets
