Kevin O’Brien smashed the fastest century in World Cup history off just 50 balls against England on Wednesday as Ireland recorded their greatest win on cricket’s biggest stage.
O’Brien came to the crease with Ireland struggling on 106 for four chasing a mammoth 327 for eight in Bangalore and flayed the England attack, striking six sixes and 13 fours including the biggest of the tournament.
In an astonishing display of power-hitting he obliterated the previous fastest Cup century record held by Australia’s Matthew Hayden, who hit 100 off 66 balls against South Africa at St Kitts in the 2007 tournament.
The 26-year-old O’Brien shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 162 with Alex Cusack (47) before John Mooney joined him, hitting a quickfire 33 not out.
O’Brien was run out for 113 off just 63 balls as Ireland set a new record for a successful run chase in a World Cup, finishing on 329-7 to win by three wickets with five balls remaining.
“I don’t think it’s quite sunk in,” said 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.”
Squander a winning position
Ireland captain William Porterfield, who saw his side squander a winning position in their opening match against Bangladesh, 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.
“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,” he added.
Devastated England skipper Andrew Strauss said England’s poor showing in the field, including a number of dropped catches, had cost them.
“We thought we’d done a reasonable job with the bat and we got Ireland at five down and things were looking pretty comfortable,” he said.
“But we weren’t reckoning on an outstanding innings from Kevin O’Brien. It was pretty brutal.”
He was at a loss to explain the poor fielding, adding: “We put down another three or four catches and in the end that cost us the game.”
England scored 327-8 with Jonathan Trott equalling the record for the fastest 1 000 one-day international runs.
Trott, who scored 92, drew level with West Indies great Vivian Richards and England team-mate Kevin Pietersen in taking just 21 innings to reach the landmark.
Restored pride
The win for Ireland, an associate nation, restored pride to the smaller nations at the World Cup, who until now had lost all their games against the Test teams, mostly by huge margins.
International cricket chiefs have opted to cut the next World Cup to just 10 teams from the current 14 in a move slammed by the smaller nations, who fear the event will become the preserve of the Test-playing nations.
Another history-maker Lasith Malinga played down his landmark second World Cup hat-trick, insisting that his famous four wickets in four balls against South Africa in 2007 was a greater achievement.
The 27-year-old seamer’s trademark collection of yorkers and toe-crushers helped him to a career-best 6-38 as Sri Lanka beat Kenya by nine wickets on Tuesday.
“I rate my performance in 2007 better than this because at that stage South Africa were virtually winning the game and I was able to get the hat-trick and brought Sri Lanka back into it,” said Malinga.
South African coach Corrie van Zyl said the team would not lower their guard against the Netherlands ahead of their match in Mohali on Thursday.
The Proteas thumped the West Indies by seven wickets in their opening Group B match in New Delhi last week and want to keep up their momentum.
“We want to win the game and that’s very important for us. We want to see our combinations are right going forward,” said the South African coach. — Sapa-AFP