England v Ireland: Live Commentary

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Mad for Chelsea:
Morning all, good start by England, rattling along at close to 7 runs per over, though Strauss has fallen. Pietersen has 59, England 110-1 at drinks after 16.

-Strauss was bowled for 34 on his 34th birthday. I think that it was destiny.

-Kevin Pietersen caught for 59 off 50 balls. He attempted to play a reverse swing shot, but it went straight up in the air to the wicket keeper. We are now at 111-2.

Its getting nervewracking now as England are constantly looking to get an extra run of each ball.

Big swing from Bresnan, but misses. that could have gone a long way

THis time he hits it but it drops short of any boundaries

Yet another Swing and a miss. this is a very good over for Ireland so far

Just 3 runs taken from that over, which will help Rankin's figures. England now at 315-6 as the penultimate over commences

A floating shot there from Yardy, but the Irish fielder drops it.

Yardy 3, Bresnan 2

A strong shot from Bresnan is driven along the ground and takes one run for it.

Trent Johnston takes another wicket. Michael Yardy swings and misses again but this one hits the wickets.

Thats his 50th ODI career wicket. The first Irishman to do so

England are stuck at 317-7 with 9 balls to come

Greame Swann comes in and gets a run off the first ball

The batsmen are struggling to make contact with these quick balls from Johnston

Just 6 runs and a wicket from the last three overs, showing that Ireland are doing well towards the end. England enter the final over at 318-7

Moody will bowl the final over of England's innings

*Mooney

Swann hits one high in the air, but falls away from any fielders. Ireland are doing well to keep their heads up, as England have batted very well

Swann hits a long shot straight down the wicket; all the way for a four. 2 balls to come

Bresnan hits a huge shot on the final ball, but he is caught- giving mooney 4 wickets. Swann finishes NO with nine runs. Bresnan score 4. The final over was damaging as Mooney conceeded 9 runs. England finish the innings with 327-8 (a formidable score). Ireland gave away 23 extras in total.

Ireland will set out to go after England, so i don't think we can rule them out.

Bah, it fizzed out a bit towards the end, but given that Ireland's strength is their bowling 327 is still a good effort. Fine innings by Trott and Bell. Pitch looks less flat than the Indian game (doing a bit for the spinners I think) and Ireland's batting isn't up to that much so England should win fairly comfortably...

Oh and Swann should defo come in before Yardy and Bresnan in this sort of situation, he's a much better hitter than either of them.

For ireland, Johnston took 2 wickets, Mooney took 4 and Stirling and Dockrell each took 1.

Striling conceeded just 45 runs off his ten overs, while Cusack nearly conceeded that many after just 4 overs.

I agree with you about Swann coming in before them. I think if our bowlers are on form today, we should be able to get them all out for less than 250.

Well Ireland's batting wasn't that good against Bangladesh, so from an England perspective the goal should be to win by at least 100 runs I think. I'd be happy if we kept them below 250 too.

Ireland will be relying purely on their top three, because once they are out the others will follow pursuit. Ed Joyce (coming in at no.3) could cause us a bit of trouble

The first over is to be balled by Jimmy Anderson

Porterfield (the Irish captain) drags the first ball into his wicket and Ireland are already down 0-1

What a start. That will surely be a huge confidence boost for Anderson after an edgy tournement so far. His job is to take early wickets and he's done just that.

Ed Joyce is next man in for the Irish

Anderson conceeds one run and a wide off the first over. Almost hit the wickets on the sixth bowl, but a great start for England nonetheless

Stuart Broad will take the second over, returning after illness from sushi tatsu

strong call for lbw, but umpire says no. England take it to review

Decision stands, as it is pitching outside leg

Paul stirling uses the speed to turn a shot behind for 6

Anderson bowls the third over. His latest stats.

0-72 v Netherlands
1-91 v India
1-2 v Ireland

Ireland 10-1 after 16 balls

A good maiden over from Anderson keeps Ireland at 10-1 after 3 overs

Ireland need a run rate of 6.77 to catch England, but are way off it at the moment

Stirling chips broads ball over for a four

Another big hit from striling using the pace of the ball for a four. Hes now on 15 with two fours and a six, while Ireland are 21-1 as a whole

Ed Joyce hits his first boundary of the innings - a four. slips past Strauss at short extra. 26-1

Stirling hits another four, bouncing once before heading over the rope. This pair look to be batting very well together. All England need now is a wicket or Ireland could become a threat to our score

Stirling has a highest score of 177 in ODI, making him the youngest player in the world to have score more than 150. Ireland currently at 37-1 after nearly 7 overs. Ed Joyce hits his 500th ODI run.

Stirling gets a four off the thigh pad. A great over for Ireland, taking 10 runs from Anderson's bowling

Ireland 42-1. At this stage England were 46-0, so they are right behind us

Paul Stirling is dismissed for 32 off 28 balls. He sliced it up high in the air and for Kevin Pieterson it was a white ball in the black sky. Pieterson never drops those and Ireland are now down to 65-2.

*62-2 and the bowler was Michael Yardy.

10 overs gone. Greame Swann will be next to bowl against O'Brien

Swann conceeds just one run off his first over. A nice tidy start

We had the chance to catch Joyce out twice then, but dropped both times. The first fell down near to three fielders, but Prior dropped the second right out of his gloves. Ireland got very lucky there

^The first one was Joyce, second O'Brien

Matt Prior misjudged the pace of the ball due to the dark sky that doesn't give much away about the ball's movement

Ireland 66-2 after 13 overs. they need more than 7 runs an over to catch up with england