England stop the Irishmen

Elmo Rodrigopulle from the Providence Stadium, Guyana,

March 30: England stopped Irish eyes from smiling when they beat them by 48 runs in a Super 8 match here today.

England making a strong bid to win their first ever World Cup won the toss and batted first on a wicket that looked good for runs.

However the early England batsmen - Ed. Joyce 1, Michael Vaughan 6 and Ian Bell 31 went cheaply and it looked as though they would struggle for runs.

But the latter batsmen batted with responsibility and saw England to a formidable score of 266. The man who made this score possible for them was Paul Collingwood, their best batsman in recent times.

First Ian Bell and Kevin Peterson put on 66 for the third wicket. Then Flintoff and Collingwood added 81 for the fifth wicket and then Collingwood and Paul Nixon associated themselves in a stand of 51 for the sixth wicket.

These three partnerships saw England post a score that Ireland found difficult to challenge.

Paul Collingwood who has been in the runs, continued his good form and played some lovely cover drives and lofted shots until he was unfortunately run out for 90 when he looked set for a three figure mark. He had 8 fours and 3 big sixes in his knock.

Kevin Peterson 48 and Andrew Flintoff 43 also made valuable runs. What swelled the England score was the 90 runs they made in the last 10 overs.

The only Irish bowler to meet with success was B. Rankin with 2 for 28.

When Ireland began their chase, they too lost two early wickets for 11 and never really recovered to challenge the England total.

Only Nial O'Brien with a lustily hit 63 threatened the England bowlers.

Andrew Flintoff who batted well returned the best figures for England with 4 for 43 while Monty Panesar captured 2 for 31.

Paul Collingwood won the man of the match award.

It was a satisfying win for England. But they have a lot of allround work to do, especially in the bowling department which lacks sting which is very vital in this style of game.