England beat Ireland convincingly despite toothless bowling performance

England (283/4) beat Ireland (281/5) by six wickets with 71 balls to spare

• Impressive Ireland make England’s bowlers toil

• Half centuries from Gaby Lewis (69), Amy Hunter (62) and Rebecca Stockell (54)

• Dunkley and Bouchier put on 143 inside 20 overs to give England a great start

• Bouchier goes on to complete a century

• England win comfortably in the 39^th over

On a day when England chased down their highest ever ODI target, there were strangely few positives for Charlotte Edwards to take from the game.

A great opening partnership between Maia Bouchier and Sophia Dunkley made a potentially very tricky second innings assignment feel like a walk in the park. And Bouchier completed a century, which ought to give her tremendous confidence as she attempts to be the long term replacement to Tammy Beaumont at the top of the innings. But it is not ‘news’ that Bouchier and Dunkley can hit big runs against bowlers of Ireland’s calibre – they regularly hit big scores in the Metro Bank One Day Cup against more experienced and skilled bowlers than most of this inexperienced Ireland attack.

More concerningly for England were the number of players who put in a sub-par performance. Jodi Grewcock, who has been the big find of this summer in the batting department, failed again, as she had at Chester-le-Street and Cardiff against New Zealand back in May.

If selected for the remaining two ODIs in this series, one suspects she needs a significant score if she is to avoid being discarded. Tilly Corteen-Coleman, who has been fast-tracked into the side this summer, put in her worst bowling performance in an England shirt, conceding 53 runs from her seven overs, the control she had shown in the T20 matches before the World Cup disappeared in a flurry of boundaries from the very first ball she bowled.

Issy Wong, erratic as ever, took two beautiful wickets – catching the outside edge of Alice Tector’s bat to provide a spectacular catch behind for wicketkeeper Alice Capsey, and later on clean bowling the dangerous Gaby Lewis, However, in between these moments of genius, there were four wides in a row at one point, and a couple of double-digit overs which ruined what would otherwise have been excellent figures.

Lauren Filer, often promoted as the dangerous speed-merchant, was economical but did not ever look close to causing any problems for the Ireland batters, never mind taking a wicket. Pick of the bowlers was captain Charlie Dean, whose 2/44 was a deserved reward for an energetic performance, but overall the England attack looked second rate as Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter accumulated 136 runs in 25 overs without giving a chance, in innings that were both patient and watchful and formed the bedrock of a decent total for the visitors.

What made the Ireland total more than decent was the late intervention of Rebecca Stockell, who batted with fluidity and confidence as she struck 54 from 48 balls to push Ireland’s score up to an impressive and threatening 281. 

Alice Capsey made a great start to life as a wicketkeeper, making a great catch to remove Tector, and her standing up keeping was tidy. But on the whole she looked a little clumsy when collecting the ball thrown in from the outfield and one senses that there are technical aspects of wicketkeeping she is not really up to speed with.

Most annoying for Capsey was the fact that, having not conceded any byes for the entire innings, from the penultimate ball of the final over, the delivery from Issy Wong hit the base of the leg stump, failed to remove the bails and then went for four byes. Capsey and Wong both looked truly disgusted.

England’s innings, which on paper looked highly challenging, turned out to be easy, a bonus point win if it were a One Day Cup game. Pleasing cameos from Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp accompanied the meatier contributions of Bouchier (105 from 91) and Dunkley (73 from 61) to see England over the line.

So what have England learned? Capsey is a long way from being an international wicketkeeper, Issy Wong blows hot and cold, Dani Gibson’s bowling needs some work, Lauren Filer is not as dangerous as people think and Tilly Corteen-Coleman is not as threatening as Linsey Smith and Sophie Ecclestone.

Expect further squad rotation at Derby on Thursday and Worcester on Sunday, when Grace Potts and Charis Pavely could feature.