England captain Eoin Morgan heaped praises on the depth of his squad after two lower-order batsmen helped them beat Ireland in the second ODI at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Saturday.
“We have a lot of guys who can change the match with the bat at the top of the order, they have the potential. These guys take the game away from the opposition,” said Morgan in the post-match presentation ceremony as quoted by IANS.
“I was going to bat at 4 and then we changed it. I am more than happy to give guys opportunities. It’s difficult with two bubbles, obviously Test match is priority. We are trying to fit the best XI in the white ball format.”
After wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow hammered 82 runs off just 41 deliveries before Sam Billings (46 off 61 deliveries) and David Willey (47 off 46 deliveries) shared an unbeaten partnership of 79 runs to see their team through by four wickets.
Earlier, Ireland were taken beyond the 200-run mark after being 91/6 due to a lower order fightback led by 21-year-old Curtis Campher.
England chased down the target of 213 runs with nearly 20 overs to spare to gain an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series. Morgan’s men had earlier defeated the Irish team by six wickets in the first ODI, which had marked the beginning of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League.
“Today was a challenge but we always wanted to play with intent. We lost wickets but certainly looking at the way the guys played, particularly Jonny at the start and then Sam and David finished well,” said Morgan. “Shows the depth in our batting and I thought the bowlers did a good job as well.”
Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie admitted that the visitors were not good enough with bat or ball but hailed Campher’s efforts.
“We were too many short and those four, five wickets early didn’t help,” he said. “Campher batting brilliantly today and showed us the way. If you are playing with a low enough total you got to be attacking. That’s the spike we needed. He got us back into the game. We got to bat a lot better than we have in the last two games.”
Bairstow was the Player of the Match for his 82 off 41 balls. “Sometimes I need a bit of rev up. Be it on the field or any external influence, obviously we don’t have the crowds now. Hopefully I can score many, many more runs,” he added.
With IANS inputs