01:32 PM
OVER 6: IRE 42/1 (Lewis 19* Prendergast 6*)
Orla Prendergast, the new batter, gets off the mark with a single. Another single brings her back onto strike and she dances down the pitch to flay it through extra cover for four. Lovely shot!
Just another single off the over, seven off it in total.
01:29 PM
WICKET! Hunter c Dunkley b Dean 15 (14)
Hunter tries to go big on the leg side, it’s not a bad connection but unfortunately it’s not good enough and Sophia Dunkley is there to take a fairly simple catch.
It ends a promising opening partnership for Ireland.
FOW 35/1
01:27 PM
OVER 5: IRE 35/0 (Hunter 15* Lewis 19*)
Lewis gets down on one knee to sweep Ecclestone through to the midwicket boundary. N Sciver-Brunt does not pick it up which is why it is a certain four. She apologises for not locating it until it was too late.
Hunter goes aerial down the ground again but it’s more of a sand-wedge that an eight-iron so it’s just two runs. Only a single off the final three balls so it’s eight off the over.
01:23 PM
Gaby Lewis is having a bit of treatment
Looks like a shoulder issue. Not sure if it’s serious, but whilst they attempt to sort the stump mic cabling out she may as well.
01:21 PM
The work for the stump mic is still ongoing
A bit of a pain in the grass.
01:18 PM
An impromptu drinks break is taken
They are having problems with the cabling for the stump mic and it needs to be fixed. May as well take a swig of the old H20.
01:16 PM
OVER 4: IRE 27/0 (Hunter 12* Lewis 14*)
Charlie Dean enters the attack with her off-breaks to make it double spin and a double bowling change for England.
Lewis reverse sweeps behind square for four second ball after Hunter took a leg bye. Not a brilliant connection and the fielder cannot cut it out in time. Attempted reverse sweep again which brings out a shout from the bowler as the ball spins sharply on the dry surface. Not interest is the umpire and neither are England in reviewing.
A bit of an agricultural swipe from Lewis gets her a single through cow corner. Six from the over. Decent start from Ireland, still.
01:12 PM
OVER 3: IRE 21/0 (Hunter 12* Lewis 9*)
Sophie Ecclestone is introduced after a couple of sloppy overs for England. Left-arm spin it is.
First ball nearly brings a chance of a run-out. Hunter would have been gone had it hit, but it didn’t so it’s a single. Still plenty of intent here from Ireland but Ecclestone is just a bit more difficult to get away. Ecclestone tosses one up, and it’s just a single through the covers.
A big shout from the bowler for LBW on the final ball but it didn’t look remotely close from here. Just the three from that over and England steady the ship a little.
01:08 PM
OVER 2: IRE 18/0 (Hunter 10* Lewis 8*)
It’s Sciver-Brunt, K for the second over. KSB aborts her run-up for what should have been her first ball. It’s a bit of a floaty-full one when she does send it down and Hunter leans into it and strokes it firmly through the covers for four. A perfect and textbook cover drive.
Hunter on the charge again, dances down the pitch and lofts it over mid-on for four more! Didn’t get it that sweetly but sweetly enough, that is for sure.
Bouncer next up, and an attempted hook goes in the air backward of square but there’s not a fielder there to take it and it’s another single. A couple of much-needed dots to finish the over. Another good over for Ireland, plenty of intent here.
01:05 PM
OVER 1: IRE 9/0 (Hunter 1* Lewis 8*)
A bit of inswing from Bell first up, but Hunter prods it out to the off-side for a single to get off the mark first ball. Same again, and Lewis squirts it behind square for four. Perhaps a tad wide which gave her some space to send it to the boundary.
Drop by Wyatt! Lewis cuts but doesn’t quite get on top of it, it is in the air to Wyatt at point who grasps it but drops it on the way down to her right.
Lewis then swings one off to the midwicket boundary off her pads. Aerial again but nobody out there.
Nine from the first over for Ireland, and a drop by England.
01:00 PM
It’ll be Lauren Bell to bowl the first over for England
Amy Hunter to face the opening ball for Ireland.
12:58 PM
The teams
England
Wyatt
Dunkley
Capsey
N Sciver-Brunt
Knight (c)
Jones (wk)
K Sciver-Brunt
Ecclestone
Dean
Glenn
Bell
Ireland
Hunter
Lewis
Prendergast
Delany (c)
Richardson
Little
Waldron (wk)
Paul
Kelly
Murray
Maguire
12:54 PM
Nearly time to get going
But first, the national anthems. Looks pretty roasting down in Paarl. My sources say it’s about 35 degrees which, for my money, is too hot to be playing cricket in long trousers.
12:53 PM
Some of Ireland’s most recent results in this format, too
Not including the warm-ups, that is.
Won by 34 runs vs Pakistan
Lost by 6 wickets vs Pakistan
Won by 6 wickets vs Pakistan
Lost by seven runs vs Bangladesh
Won by four runs vs Zimbabwe
12:41 PM
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s £320,000 payday shows how women’s cricket is about to change
A big day for women’s cricket, with the inaugural IPL auction.
Nat Sciver-Brunt has been sold for £320,000, becoming the most expensive England cricketer in the initial stages of the Women’s Premier League auction.
The inaugural WPL auction, staged in the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai on Monday, began just four hours before England’s second game of the T20 World Cup, against Ireland. If it was not ideal preparation before a World Cup game, it was a snapshot of how the WPL will transform the women’s game.
Read more from Tim Wigmore here.
12:36 PM
England captain Heather Knight’s thoughts
“Not quite 100 percent with the ball and in the field [vs WI], but with the bat outstanding. Positive and entertaining. We can bowl tighter, we know that, they weren’t perfect the other day. Make sure we are aggressive in the field. We can probably bowl a little bit tighter. I thought our spinners in the middle were brilliant.”
Unchanged team from England, the same XI who defeated West Indies in their first game.
12:34 PM
Time for the toss… and Ireland win
Conditions look fantastic. Ireland win the toss and they decide to bat first.
“We can’t wait to get out there with the bat,” says captain Laura Delany. “A good buzz and energy around the group. We’re playing three spinners. The rest are seamers and batters.”
12:27 PM
England’s most recent results
Won by 7 wickets vs West Indies
Won by 5 wickets vs West Indies
Won by 17 runs vs South Africa
Won by 8 wickets vs West Indies
Won by 49 runs vs West Indies
Won by 17 runs vs West Indies
Won by 16 runs vs West Indies
Won by 8 wickets vs West Indies
12:05 PM
From yesterday’s match
10:31 AM
Good morning
Welcome to our coverage for the Group 2 game in the Women’s T20 World Cup between England and Ireland. England have already played their opening game, but this is Ireland’s opening match of the tournament.
Whilst much of the attention around women’s cricket today is around the inaugural IPL auction, and understandably so, there is a pretty big tournament still ongoing in South Africa.
England come into this match in decent form, with their last white-ball loss coming 11 games ago, against India in England last September.
They made light work of the West Indies at the end of last year, winning a three-match ODI series 3-0 and a four-match T20I series 4-0. They saw them off comfortably in their opening game of the World Cup, too, winning by seven wickets in Paarl.
Sophie Ecclestone was the standout performer with the ball, taking 3-23 off her four overs, helping to restrict West Indies to 135-7 off their 20 overs.
England knocked off that target within 15 overs for only the loss of three wickets. Sophia Dunkley got things off to a fairly rapid start with 34 off 29, before Nat Sciver-Brunt – who has been sold for £320,000 in the IPL auction – and captain Heather Knight finished things off with 40 not out off 30 balls and 32 not out off 22 balls respectively. Each hit a six in their 67-run partnership to give England a winning start to the tournament.
England, then, are naturally enormous favourites at 1/20 on for this game, but it would be foolish to disrespect Ireland’s ability. They got to within two runs of a tricky 149 in their opening warm-up game last week and then beat tournament favourites Australia by chasing down 169 in the final over two days later.
Of course, there are caveats to that in that it was an unofficial T20I with Australia retiring batters on reaching their fifties, but it was still a fine result for Ireland.
Anyway, Ireland vs England gets going at 1pm GMT and we will be here for all of the live updates and reaction from it.
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