Despite battling a bleeding hand, Orla Prendergast took two wickets and then hit a wonderful 80 off 51 balls to give England a big black eye in the final match of their tour of Ireland – the hosts winning with 1 ball to spare at Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin.
England 169-8 v Ireland 170-5 #IREvENG
— CRICKETher (@crickether.bsky.social) 2024-09-15T16:47:05.805Z
Having initially cut her hand playing for the Blaze in the RHF Trophy in England earlier in the month, the wound has literally been a running sore for Prendergast all week, and today it opened up again while she was fielding. With blood pouring out of her palm, the umpires insisted that she received treatment, and there was a lengthy delay whilst the medical staff patched her up before she was able to resume bowling.
To then come out and bat the best part of 20 overs showed her fighting spirit; to win the game for Ireland showed her class as a cricketer. Prendergast hit 13 fours, the majority through extra cover and mid off, manipulating the field as she went.
England 169-8 v Ireland 170-5 #IREvENG
— CRICKETher (@crickether.bsky.social) 2024-09-15T16:48:04.384Z
The key to Ireland’s victory was the 17th over – the biggest of the game – bowled by Charis Pavely. Going into the over, Ireland needed an increasing unlikely sounding 42 from 24 balls. After hitting a 4 off the second ball, Leah Paul turned the strike over to Prendergast with a single, and Prendergast stepped up to strike the last 3 balls of the over for boundaries. The first of those deliveries was a gimmie from Pavely – too short and too wide; but the second was only turned into a half-volley by brilliant footwork from Prendergast; and the third was just a very clean strike down the ground. Suddenly the ask was a much more realistic sounding 25 from 18, and the game was afoot.
Ireland didn’t make it easy for themselves though – keeping the fans watching on free-to-air TV on the edge of their sofas, Prendergast was bowled trying to cut a yorker from Kate Cross, leaving it once again a contest between Mady Villiers bowling the final over for England, and Ireland’s tail, just as it had been in Belfast when Ireland won the 3rd ODI.
Villiers stepped up, just as she had done earlier in the week, by applying the KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid! Targeting the stumps, keeping her head as both Sarah Forbes and Ava Canning tried to charge her, she had them both bowled, leaving Ireland still needing 2 off 2, with the new batter – Christina Coulter-Reilly – at the crease.
Coulter-Reilly pulled the penultimate delivery straight back to Villiers with no power in the shot, and then set off for the single, having presumably been instructed to “Just Run”. Then, in echoes of the conclusion of the Sunrisers game at Chelmsford in 2022, which finished in a win for Western Storm after a wild overthrow from Villiers went for 4 off the final ball, Villiers hurled the ball at the stumps – it missed, there was no one backing up close enough to cut it off, and the crowd roared a roar far in excess of their actual number (a few hundred) to urge the batters to turn back for the second run and win the match.
Despite her frustrations, thumping the ground in disappointment, Villiers probably did the right thing – England needed the wicket if they wanted to win the game; and besides, England were only still in it thanks to the two wickets she had taken in the two previous deliveries. That’s the bit England should take note of, and as I wrote yesterday, Villiers should still have an England future based on her performances this tour.
For a couple of others, it looks likely that this was their final game for England. Paige Scholfield finished the tour on which she made her debut on a little high, with her highest score for her country – 34 off 21 balls – and if she finishes her career with just those 5 England caps, it is still 5 more caps than I (or most other people) ever got – she should be proud. Ditto Georgia Adams, who looked more settled today, making 23 off 15, as she made her second (and again presumably, final) appearance in an England shirt.
I continue to think that Seren Smale has more caps in front of her than anyone else on this tour, but she had an error-strewn day behind the stumps which made us once again realise how much we’ll miss Amy Jones when she hangs up her gloves. For almost 20 years, England have gone into most matches with the best wicketkeeper in the world – first Sarah Taylor, then Jones. Whether her successor is Smale or Bess Heath, or Ann Nicola Other, they just aren’t going to be that, at least at first, and we’re all going to have to get used to it!
But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that a tough defeat to take for England was a glorious moment for Ireland, and I genuinely think their players reacted with more joy to the win than Australia’s did when they won the last T20 World Cup! They’ve taken a couple of beatings recently – from Scotland in the T20 World Cup qualifier (denying them a spot on the plane to the UAE), and from England in the 2nd ODI and yesterday’s T20; but they have bounced back bravely, come out fighting, and come out winners again today. As I write this, I can still hear whoops of celebration coming from the nearby pavilion bar at Clontarf Cricket Club. They are thoroughly deserved.
CRICKETher 
It’s probably the bowling performances that’ve cost us on this tour – the batting generally held up OK. Today I felt that Smale had a poor-ish day behind the stumps, very untidy – and she cost 10+ runs which she should have saved, which was vital in the end. Beaumont would have been a better bet. None of the bowlers really let themselves down today, but Wong and Pavely weren’t quite as effective as yesterday.
England love to challenge themselves and they’ve done a bit too much of it in these T20s, which I said was a risk. There wasn’t too much much bowling experience in this T20 squad, and Cross and Villiers are more suited to 50 overs anyway. I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have included a couple more of our premium players in the squad. The world cup’s still 2 1/2 weeks out.
That said, I divide the new players into 3 groups, those that we can say probably could/should have played more for England previously, those who got a solid pass for their performances or who look promising, and those who maybe didn’t quite make the grade.
I would have have to say Bryony Smith, Mady Villiers, Bess Heath and Georgia Adams fall into the first group – all perfectly capable players who England should be looking to fill those gaps when players from the main squad are injured or fall out of form. Heath’s keeping is a bit tidier than Smale’s based on today’s evidence.
In the second group would be Scholfield, Baker, Pavely, Smale, RMG and Davis, top quality domestic players that England should be looking to involve in training and up-skill, and see how far they can go with a few appearances for now. Long term the youngsters are likely to be the future in a few years.
I think only Armitage and Lamb would fall into the last group – harsh but neither had their best of games. Overall it has been an enjoyable series that England needed to fight hard, maybe a bit too hard, in.
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