Irish hero O’Brien hails greatest innings

Batting hero Kevin O’Brien on Wednesday hailed the greatest innings of his life after his 113 off just 63 balls propelled Ireland to a famous World Cup win over England.

O’Brien came to the crease with Ireland struggling on 106 for four chasing a mammoth 327 for eight and flayed the English attack, striking six sixes in a 50-ball century, the fastest World Cup ton of all time.

In an astonishing display of power-hitting he obliterated the previous record held by Australia’s Matthew Hayden, who hit 100 off 66 balls against South Africa at St Kitts in the 2007 tournament.

“I don’t think it’s quite sunk in,” said 26-year-old O’Brien, after another famous win to follow Ireland’s shock World Cup triumph over Pakistan in 2007.

“It’s probably the best innings I’ve ever played. I just hit the ball pretty well and got a bit of luck and things went my way. I just kept going and kept attacking.”

“When we were 111-5 I said to myself we could have just pottered around and got 220 off 50 overs for eight or nine and the game would have been pretty boring to watch.”

“But I just chanced my arm and said I was going to be as positive as I can and got a few away and didn’t look back.”

O’Brien praised his team-mates, saying they had stuck at their task in the field, restricting England towards the end of their innings.

“We restricted them to a target that we felt we could chase. We saw the game last week, England and India. It’s a high-scoring ground and a great wicket.”

Irish skipper William Porterfield hailed the “greatest” day for Irish cricket.

“We believed in ourselves. We had a bit of an upset the other night when we should have knocked off 200 against Bangladesh but to bounce back the way that the lads have bounced back, especially after losing a few early wickets and being 111-5, was a great effort,” he said.

“It will be a good party back home but it’s still only one game we’ve won from two.”

“We’ve still got four games left in this tournament so we’ll be looking to put in a performance like that every game and you never know from there. We’ve still got a great chance of qualifying for the second phase.”

Despondent England captain Andrew Strauss said a poor performance in the field, including several dropped catches, had cost his side the match.

“We thought we’d done a reasonable job with the bat and we got Ireland at five down and things were looking pretty comfortable.”

“But we weren’t reckoning on an outstanding innings from Kevin O’Brien. It was pretty brutal.”

“It’s a bitterly disappointing defeat for us. Our World Cup dream is not at an end by any means. We’re going to have to bounce back very quickly and learn the lessons from this defeat,” he added.

The England skipper said he was at a loss to explain the poor quality of some of the fielding.

“We put down another three or four catches and in the end that cost us the game.”

We deserve Cup chance, say Ireland heroes

Bangalore (AFP): Ireland’s dramatic World Cup win over England proves that the smaller nations deserve a place at cricket’s biggest tournament, captain William Porterfield said.

Ireland, inspired by Kevin O’Brien’s blazing 113, the fastest century in World Cup history, defeated England by three wickets on Wednesday to boost their quarter-final chances and strike a blow for the non-Test nations.

The sensational win comes after a decision by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to cut the number of teams in the 2015 World Cup to 10 from the current 14, infuriating the second tier, or associate, nations.

They fear a carve-up that will see a competition dominated by the Test teams and their chances of qualifying drastically reduced.

“The ICC have made a decision and it’s out of our hands,” Porterfield said. “It’s pretty disappointing cutting the teams to 10.

“I personally think there needs to be some kind of qualification,” he added.

Ireland knocked Pakistan out of the 2007 World Cup in Jamaica and beat another Test nation, Bangladesh, in the second phase of that tournament.

As far back as 1969, Ireland beat the West Indies, whom they also defeated in 2004, but Porterfield said victory against England topped the lot.

“It’s the biggest win our country has ever had. Pakistan was a good win but as a one-off game this was the biggest,” said Porterfield, whose side bounced back from their 27-run opening loss to Bangladesh in Dhaka in dramatic style.

Aside from O’Brien’s heroics, all-rounder John Mooney took four for 63 and scored 33 not out to see Ireland home with five balls to spare.

“It’s the biggest chase in the World Cup so it’s the best,” said Porterfield after Ireland, who made 329 for seven, broke Sri Lanka’s record for the most runs made by a team batting second to win a World Cup match, 313-7 in 1992.

“We’re going to enjoy the moment now,” said left-handed opener Porterfield, out for a golden duck when he played on to James Anderson off the very first ball of Ireland’s reply.

Porterfield’s men return to the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore to play co-hosts and tournament favourites India on Sunday.