Salt leads England to first T20 win over Ireland

Phil Salt again starred for England as they beat Ireland by four wickets in the first match of a three-game T20 series in Dublin.

The England opener smashed 89 off 46 deliveries but came up short of what would have been his second consecutive century when he was caught by Ross Adair with the final delivery of the 15th over.

By then, however, Salt had broken the back of the chase for England, who finished the job of chasing Ireland's 196-3 with more than two overs to spare.

Travelling without their all-format stars, England were captained by Jacob Bethell for the first time, with the 21-year-old hitting 24 off 16 balls before a tame swipe to extra cover just as he appeared to be going through the gears.

In what was their first international of any kind since a T20 win over West Indies on 15 June, Ireland will have felt their tally, which included half-centuries for both Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker, was a competitive one.

But just five days after their stunning 304-2 against South Africa on a record-breaking night in Manchester, a much-changed England began their reply in emphatic fashion before Ireland battled back for some late wickets.

The win represented England's first victory over Ireland in the format in what was their second completed game, and the two sides will meet again at Malahide on Friday and Sunday.

On the day when Bethell became the youngest player to captain an English team, his first act as Harry Brook's stand-in skipper was to win the toss and put the hosts in to bat.

With all the pre-match talk about the amount of cricket, or lack thereof, played by Ireland in the build-up to this series, there will have been plenty of interest in how openers Paul Stirling and Ross Adair fared.

While there were certainly a few instances when the pair appeared to be searching for their rhythm in the early overs, Ireland were 49-0 at the end of the powerplay, with Stirling in particular providing some big hitting.

Of the skipper's quartet of sixes, two were driven onto the roof of the hospitality tent at the compact ground in north Dublin.

After providing the solid start, the opening pair fell in quick succession with Adair caught on the boundary by Phil Salt in the eighth over when attempting a sweep over the leg side off the bowling of Liam Dawson.

Nine deliveries and 10 runs later, Stirling followed after swiping at the bowling of Adil Rashid with Will Jacks taking the catch.

The arrivals of Harry Tector and then Lorcan Tucker to the crease saw Ireland run an increased number of singles for the remainder of their innings but Tector still added seven boundaries in his unbeaten 61 from 36 balls.

Tector, who brought up his own half-century with a drive for six, almost lasted to the end of the innings, only to edge the penultimate delivery into the gloves of Jos Buttler.

England batter Phil Salt: "I thought Ireland played well to get where they got. It was all about being confident and making that partnership with Jos to get off on the right foot."

On missing out on the century: "I was annoyed to get out but not too annoyed about that to be honest. Coming away from home to a new ground and new conditions. Just getting the job done in the first one, I'm happy enough about that. I was slightly annoyed about the way I got out but looking back, it might have been quite greedy."

England captain Jacob Bethell: "It feels pretty special. Winning the first one is always nice.

"A great feeling and can't waiting to go again on Friday."

Ireland captain Paul Stirling: "We'll take all the positives we can out of it. I was happy to go out there and get going. Hopefully throughout this series we can improve in all areas. We couldn't have asked for much more from our batters. To score 196 in the end was great."

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