Ireland shocked rivals England by producing a brilliant five-run win via Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) in the T20 World Cup, thanks to a magnificent half-century from captain Andrew Balbirnie and an excellent bowling performance led by Josh Little.
Having been put in to bat, Ireland got off to a perfect start thanks to an important partnership between Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker. They came together after Mark Wood removed danger man Paul Stirling for 14 and put on 82 runs for the second wicket, particularly targeting the expensive Chris Woakes.
With Ireland threatening to go big, Adil Rashid made a crucial breakthrough as he fortuitously ran out Tucker for 34 by deflecting a Balbirnie drive back onto the stumps. England then staged a much-needed fightback as Ireland fell from 103-1 to 157 all out, with Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Wood all impressing.
While Ireland's ultimate total of 157 was less than England would have feared when Balbirnie and Tucker were together after they lost their last seven wickets for just 25 runs, it was still a challenging target and, when both Jos Buttler and Alex Hales fell early to the excellent Josh Little, it appeared an upset was on the cards.
Fionn Hand then bowled Ben Stokes with a brilliant delivery to leave England faltering at 37-3 after the powerplay. Dawid Malan and Harry Brook attempted to tough it out and take the game deep, but they both holed out after scoring at less than a run a ball.
Moeen Ali did begin to up the ante, striking two boundaries off leg-spinner Gareth Delany to keep England in the game before the rain interrupted for a second time. The umpires took the players off the field midway through the 15th over with England five short on DLS. And play was unable to resume, handing Ireland a memorable victory.
Here are five talking points...
Balbirnie and Tucker show their quality
While Stirling is the bona fide superstar in Ireland's batting line-up, they do have an impressive array of talent in their side ranging from some younger prospects to some more experienced names. And after Stirling perished for a quick-fire 14, we saw a perfect showcase of that with Balbirnie and Tucker sharing a brilliant 82-run partnership.
The pair took down England's seamers expertly, with Tucker notably ramping Woakes for four and Blabirnie smashing the same bowler for three boundaries in one over. The Ireland skipper struck his eighth T20I half-century, while Tucker made his sixth-highest T20I score.
The partnership was only broken when Tucker was run out at the non-striker's end in bizarre fashion after Rashid deflected a Balbirnie drive back onto the sumps. It was an unfortunate dismissal and sparked something of a collapse, with Ireland falling from 103-1 to 157 all out.
Woakes off the pace
Balbirnie and Tucker took a real liking to Woakes, who conceded 41 off his three overs including ten boundaries. England's bowling plans to Balbirnie and Tucker did not work and, while Ireland's seamers were highly effective with swing and seam, Woakes was unable to deliver in conditions which should have suited him.
Perhaps it was too much to ask Woakes to play back-to-back games, having only just returned after a long injury lay-off and admitting it was "a little bit of risk" for him to play in the first match against Afghanistan after suffering a strained quad muscle ahead of the fixture.
And Wood was brutally honest in his assessment of the way England started with the ball, stating during the innings break: "The first 10 overs we were a bit flat and lacked intensity. We gave them too many four balls.
"A big stadium, quite empty and we didn't have the intensity of a big crowd. They ran a lot of twos. It's hard to put my finger on it but I didn't think that was our best performance."
Livingstone makes an impact
England did well to drag things back in the second half of Ireland's innings, with Livingstone recording his best bowling figures in an England shirt. The 29-year-old's ability to bowl a mix of both off spin and leg spin has been a useful weapon for England in T20 cricket and proved to be the case once more.
Having not originally expected to bowl, Livingstone was forced into action after Ireland's destruction of Woakes and Rashid's economical start. And after conceding five singles in his first over, he took two wickets in two balls including the big scalp of Balbirnie.
He ended with figures of 3-17 from three overs and conceded just the one boundary, standing out alongside Rashid and the always threatening Wood and showing just how crucial he is for England. However, the fact he only faced two balls before rain ended the game prematurely shows England got their approach wrong with the bat even with wickets falling.
Little shows his quality
The left-arm seamer is one of the fastest rising stars in T20 cricket and showed exactly why with a brilliant performance at the MCG. Little set the tone brilliantly with the new ball, dismissing Buttler for a duck with just the second ball of the innings and then removing Hales.
He finished with figures of 2-16 from his three overs and he is Ireland's leading wicket taker at this tournament with six scalps at an average of 24.33. Little was also backed up well by fellow seamers Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy and Hand to ensure Ireland won the match after losing some momentum at the back end of their innings.
"We were slightly disappointed with the way we finished with the bat, we lost seven wickets for not a lot and they took the momentum in with them," Balbirnie reflected. "Our message was just to create chances and if we can take every chance we get, we'll be in with a shout."
England's timid approach costs them
The amount of depth means England should be able to go hard from ball one, but this is the second game in a row where they have produced a lacklustre batting display. Against Afghanistan, they struck just seven boundaries in their innings and were made to work very hard as they chased down 113 with just 11 balls to spare.
And although they lost three early wickets in the powerplay thanks to some excellent bowling in this game, the fact more rain was forecast should have meant England had no choice but to play their shots and try and get ahead of DLS.
However, Malan and Brook dug in and scored at less than a run a ball before getting out and by the time Moeen started to motor it was too late. He struck 12 off the final three balls of the match and may well have guided England to victory had the weather not intervened.
Moeen struck four boundaries in his unbeaten 24 off 12, the same as every other England batter comobined and the fact they have been outstruck on boundaries by both Afghanistan and Ireland is a real concern and truly bizarre given the depth they have with Rashid down at number ten.
