Jofra Archer took up all the focus leading to the Dublin fixture as England's blue-eyed debutant, but another ODI first-timer Ben Foakes impressed with a timely, undefeated half-century as England recovered from a top-order wobble in a small chase against Ireland in a 45-overs-a-side affair. Things could've been different had Ireland's batters been smarter with their shot selection, as their eventual target of 198 proved to be too little, even if England only won by four wickets.
When the 19-year-old left-arm pacer Joshua Little - an Irish debutant in the game - removed openers James Vince and Dawid Malan in the space of two overs and then sent back Eoin Morgan for a three-ball duck, there must've been a genuine feeling of doing the unthinkable.
After all, England's pace duo of Liam Plunkett (4 for 35) and Tom Curran (3 for 35) had run through the Ireland line-up as the middle-order trio of Lorcan Tucker, Kevin O'Brien and Gary Wilson served up single-digit scores. Recovery, to an extent, was possible courtesy brief efforts from George Dockrell and Mark Richard Adair, whose partnership was broken by Archer to claim his first wicket in England colours. The pacer finished with 1 for 40 in eight overs and Ireland folded for just 198.
But Little's efforts meant England were suddenly left reeling on 46 for 3. That soon became 62 for 4 and 66 for 5, carrying shades of England's season opener from last year - when they were stunned by Scotland in a big chase. Little picked up his fourth wicket when David Willey fell for a resourceful 20 off 38 balls that helped England nudge their score past the 100-run mark. But Foakes found an able ally in Curran, who carried forward his form from the first half of the game to stitch together a match-winning, unbeaten 98-run stand with Foakes. He finished on an unbeaten 47 while Foakes got to 61 when the pair saw the team over the line with 18 balls to spare.
Brief Scores: Ireland 198 in 43.1 overs (Mark Richard Adair 32, Andrew Balbirnie 29; Liam Plunkett 4-35, Tom Curran 3-35) lost to England 199/6 in 42 overs (Ben Foakes 61, Tom Curran 47; Joshua Little 4-45) by 4 wickets