While rain and the Duckworth-Lewis scoring method sealed victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday, Ireland outright deserved a win, beating England with bat, ball and ground before the season set in.
Having already eliminated West Indies in qualifying, Ireland’s first win in the second round of the T20 World Cup threw the Super 12s wide open and issued a warning to the cricketing powers, who had largely turned them down in the competition. .
Ireland now have another chance to break new ground in Melbourne when they take on Afghanistan in a potentially decisive clash against hosts Australia in Brisbane on Friday.
“The group is open wide. It’s a huge Friday night game for us,” Balberni said.
“If we can go to Brisbane with a win on Friday, who knows what will happen?
“We’ve obviously lost one and won one, so we’re in balance. We’re just going to go out and enjoy.”
Only a day before Afghanistan, Ireland have little time to celebrate England’s stunner, arguably their best win since defeating the same opponents in the 50-over World Cup in 2011.
Still, Balbirnie said his team was thrilled to make its mark at the MCG, where Ronnie Delany won the 1,500m gold medal for Ireland at the 1956 Olympics.
“It will always be a special place because of tonight,” Balbirnie said after the match.
“We visited the museum last night (here), and Ronnie Delany won the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics here, and you see his name is etched in the history of our sport forever.
“I hope we have done something similar. I have always said that cricket is not a big sport in Ireland. We are the flag bearers, and we want to make it as big as possible.”
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