Ireland batsman Paul Stirling appeared modest while assessing his match-winning knock of 142 runs in the third ODI against England at the Rose Bowl Stadium on Tuesday.
Stirling talked more about the collective effort of the team to deny England a whitewash in the three-match series. He also spoke about the importance of registering a win against England in their own backyard.
“It takes a lot of character to come back after the way we lost the first two games. I think it’s a combination of lot of things,” Stirling said.
“I love batting with Balbirnie, we seem to bat great together, hopefully we’ll have many more partnerships in days to come. He’s really solid out there.
“It’s a nice knock to have under your belt, a win against England in England, but more than the knock – the win counts,” he added.
Brilliant centuries from captain Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling steered Ireland to a memorable victory of seven wickets against England in the third ODI against England on Tuesday at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Stirling (142 off 128 deliveries) and Balbirnie (113 off 112) nullified the effort of England skipper Eoin Morgan who had played a scintillating knock of 104 off 86 deliveries to help England post 328. But a stand of 214 runs between Stirling and Balbirnie helped Ireland reach the target with one ball to spare.
Meanwhile, Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie has heaped praises on his team, and especially on Paul Stirling, after chasing down the mammoth total to get at least 10 points from the opening series of the World Cup Super League.
“We didn’t perform with the bat at all in the first two ODIs. To come back in the field and to chase down such a total against a good England team is very satisfying,” Balbirnie said during the post-match presentation.
“(At the halfway stage) We absolutely thought we could chase. We knew that we needed to bat well. We bowled really well, we picked regular wickets which was great and 320-330 we were in the game.
“I tried to be positive whenever I could, obviously it’s a different positive the way Paul bats. We created a big partnership which essentially went a long way to winning the game,” he added.
Brief scores: England 328 all out (Eoin Morgan 106, Tom Banton 58; Craig Young 3-53), Ireland 329-3 (Paul Stirling 142, Andrew Balbirnie 113; Adil Rashid 1-61)