England won by 6 wkts
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : David Willey
Batter
Bowler
England are up and running in the World Cup Super League. Only a short turnaround between matches, so we'll be back in a couple of days. 20 more points up for grabs in this 3-ODI series, with every match having something riding on it. That's all for now though. See you next time.
David Willey, Man of the Match: Wasn't sure if my opportunity would come again after the last 12 months. Obviously I've been part of the group four years, to miss out at the 11th hour was difficult. For me it's about going out and enjoying every minute. Every opportunity could be the last one. As I got closer to WC selection, you start thinking about that more. But that's come and gone now. Play my best cricket when I'm enjoying it. Hopefully the results keep coming.
Morgan, England captain: Pretty happy, winning the toss and bowling isn't necessarily always easy. Willey had an outstanding day. Given the story of Willey missing out on the WC squad, it's a fantastic comeback. He and Mahmood were outstanding. Against a relatively low score, it's nice to get a partnership going. Delighted to get playing, delighted to start the series. The more times we can see guys in pressure situations, the more we find out about them. Some of them didn't come off today. Hopefully they do so in the next few games. It's a great feeling (the depth of the squad). You really need to do something special to get into the final 15. We'll see how guys pull up. The batting lineup should stay the same, will see how the bowlers pull up.
Balbirnie, Ireland captain: They bowled pretty well upfront, we played loosely and gave away wickets. He (Campher) played well, he adapted well to the conditions. It was a pretty old school one day kind of an innings. That's what we needed from our top five, would've then been in a good position. Harry (Tector) has got a big future ahead of him. McCarthy is a big part of our squad, he has been leading our attack since more than a year - hopefully his injury is not that serious. The guys who've got a chance today probably should have an opportunity to redeem themselves. Just a one day turnaround.
Highest scores on ODI debut v ENG in losing cause
82 - Brijesh Patel, Headingley 1974
67 - Ajit Wadekar, Headingley 1974
59* - Curtis Campher, Southampton 2020**
This is 6th consecutive ODI win for England at Southampton since 2016.
Highest 5th wicket stands for ENG at Southampton in ODIs
101 - P Collingwood & J Dalrymple v PAK, 2006
96* - S Billings & E Morgan v IRE, 2020*
95 - E Morgan & L Wright v AUS, 2010
As well as Billings played though, the standout performance for England came with the ball from David Willey. Back in the squad for the first time since being dropped from the World Cup, he made a a statement with his maiden ODI five-for, four of those coming in his first four overs itself which really killed the game off with Ireland being reduced to 28/5. There was no coming back from there, despite an impressive debut showing from Campher.
19:33 Local Time, 18:33 GMT, 00:03 IST: Eventually a comfortable win for England, despite the wobble at the top. They were 78/4 after some indifferent batting from some of the top-order. But Sam Billings just came out and batted on a different level today, his sublime half-century dampening Ireland's burgeoning hopes and handing them the comprehensive defeat always reserved for them after a lackluster batting effort.
Simi Singh to Morgan, SIX, the winning strike from Morgan who takes toll of a ball that's pitched right in his territory. Unleashes his clean batswing through the line of it over long-on. England go 1-0
Simi Singh to Morgan, no run, sliding in at the stumps from a length, defended down the pitch
Simi Singh to Morgan, no run, drifting in on off, pushed to cover
Simi Singh to Billings, 1 run, down the pitch again and finds himself at the receiving end of a leg-break variation, defends through square leg
Simi Singh to Billings, 2 runs, dances down, realises the length isn't there and quietly works it round the corner. As it happens, he's placed it wide of short fine leg for two
Simi Singh [3.0-0-14-0] is back into the attack
END OF OVER 27
8 Runs
ENG: 165 - 4
0 1 2 4 1 0
Eoin Morgan
30 (37)
Sam Billings
64 (52)
Gareth Delany
2-0-12-0
Gareth Delany to Morgan, no run, happy to respect this googly with a forward defence
Gareth Delany to Billings, 1 run, works this full toss through midwicket
Gareth Delany to Billings, FOUR, real long-hop from Delany. Short on leg stump, Billings helps himself to a boundary as he pulls in the gap behind square
Gareth Delany to Billings, 2 runs, the pace at which this is drilled down the ground stuns Delany who stuck his hand out to stop it but it was behind him by then. Great work from long-on though to save the boundary as he dives across and flicks it in
Gareth Delany to Morgan, 1 run, sliding away outside off, Morgan cuts through to sweeper cover
Gareth Delany to Morgan, no run, the reverse-sweep goes quite fine, coming from high on the bat. Taken on the half-volley at slip
END OF OVER 26
12 Runs
ENG: 157 - 4
4 1 6 0 0 1
Eoin Morgan
29 (34)
Sam Billings
57 (49)
Craig Young
8-0-56-2
Young to Morgan, 1 run, back of a length delivery outside off, an off-cutter that's steered down to third man with the spin