Ireland's cricket player Kevin O'Brien compressed England with his bat as Ireland defeated England by in Group B on Wednesday. O'Brien hit six sixes and 13 fours in his wonderful innings of 133 of 63 balls as Ireland responded to England's score of 327-8 made 329 for 7. Kevin O'Brien became the first player to score the fastest World Cup Century when as he made his century in 50 balls. Ireland's Kevin O'Brien crushed England with his bat as Ireland defeated England by 3 wickets in hand in Group B on Wednesday. O'Brien hit six sixes and 13 fours in his amazing innings of 113 of just 63 balls as Ireland responded to England's score of 327-8. Ireland made 329 for 7 with 3 wickets in hand. Kevin O'Brien became the first player to score the fastest World Cup Century when as he made his century in 50 balls. Earlier, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell made half centuries which helped England to get a total of 327-8 against Ireland. Trott 92 runs added with Bell's 81 runs laid the foundations for England.“That's a long way the best innings I've played, even as kids when I was playing in the back garden with (brother) Niall,” he said.
“I think anyone is going to struggle to beat that. I'll say that all night, 100 off 50 balls in a World Cup in front of a billion people under lights against England, it doesn't get any better.”
O’Brien believed the
impossible was possible about 12 overs out.“Myself and Cusi (Alex Cusack) took the powerplay at 31 overs and it came off (they scored 62 in five overs) and that set us up,” he said.
“We needed 90 of 12 which is just over seven an over. The wicket out there was extremely flat and the ball was coming on to the bat nicely.
“It's also a pretty small ground with a quick outfield so if you pierced the ball through the infield it was either two or four. It helped that I was hitting the ball pretty cleanly as well.
“I just went out to try and be positive. As you might have seen on Friday I score pretty quickly and these last three games including the warm-up games I've just backed my own ability to go out there and just hit it as hard as I can.
“It was obviously a tricky situation and it didn't help losing the fifth wicket for 111. We had our backs we took a chance, myself and Cusi got the ball rolling and from there I don't think England had any answers to be honest.
“They didn't really know what they were up to with their bowling plans and we took advantage of that.”
When he was out for 113, having faced just 63 balls and hit 13 fours and six maximums, Ireland were still 11 runs short of their target but with 11 balls left O’Brien was confident in his team-mates.
“John (Mooney) was still there and he was hitting the ball very cleanly and then Trent (Johnston) came in and he's no tailender, he hits a big ball,” he added.
“He's a fantastic player coming in at number eight or nine for us. I just knew if we didn't panic, it was down to a run a ball. They were always giving us a four ball an over.
“We knew that we just sat on it and kept out the good balls and hit the bad ball for four we'd walk to victory.”
Watching from the stands as he played the innings of his life, were O’Brien’s parents, former Ireland captain Brendan, and Camilla.
“Obviously there was two proud people up there in the stands and there's probably four million proud people at home,” added O'Brien junior.
“It's a fantastic day for Irish cricket, Irish sport, be it rugby, football, whatever; any time Ireland beat England it's massive.”
Proud dad also spoke after the match. “It’s a hugely proud moment for me and I'm delighted for him,” said Brendan.
“He had a couple of ducks recently but it is a hard game and he has come back well.
“We knew the wicket was good the outfield very quick. Alex and Kevin were fantastic.”
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Kevin O'Brien struck the fastest century in World Cup history yesterday, in Ireland's win at Bangalore. The Dubliner also placed sixth in the fastest ODI centuries to this day.
10 Fastest ODI centuries
102 (100 from 37) - S Afridi (v Sri Lanka, Nairobi) Oct '96
147 no (100 from 44) - M Boucher (v Zimbabwe, Potchefstroom) Sep '06
117 (100 from 45) - B Lara (v Bangladesh, Dhaka) Oct '99
102 (100 from 45) - S Afridi (v India, Kanpur) Apr '05
134 (100 from 48) - S Jayasuriya (v Pakistan, Singapore) Apr '96
113 (100 from 50) - K O'Brien (v England, Bangalore) Mar '11
124 (100 from 53) - S Afridi (v Bangladesh, Dambulla) Jun '10
130 (100 from 55) - S Jayasuriya (v Bangladesh, Karachi) Jun '08
102 (100 from 58) - AB de Villiers (v India, Ahmedabad) Feb '10
125 (100 from 60) - V Sehwag (v New Zealand, Hamilton) Mar '09
Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/other-sports/cricket-world-cup-kevin-obrien-blasts-his-way-to-history-15102289.html#ixzz1FW1PJUeP
