Ben Foakes on Friday, 3rd May, received his One Day International (ODI) cap in Dublin and the wicket-keeper batsman grabbed the opportunity both hands, slamming a brilliant unbeaten half-century to help England beat Ireland by four wickets in one-off ODI in Dublin.
Chasing 198 at Malahide Cricket Club on Friday, Foakes scored 61* off 76 batting at No. 6 and also added 98 in 15 overs with Tom Curran for the seventh wicket to help the tourists to cross the line inside 42 overs against Ireland and grabbed timely attention ahead of the upcoming Cricket World Cup 2019.
However, it was an eye-catching show from the debutant but the right-hander is not much optimistic about his chances of breaking into England's limited-overs team or getting chances regularly especially with the return of Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, as the Surrey man was already dropped after two more games in the Caribbean as England struggled to balance their side despite finishing the debut Test series as Man of the Series in Sri Lanka.
Foakes told reporters after Dublin ODI, “Can I break into the team? Probably not. Jos is probably the best keeper-batsman in the world and Jonny is probably second, if not first. It's ridiculous. So just to get the game has been great. It's something I didn't expect. I didn't really think I'd make my debut.”
Meanwhile, Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs skipper, hailed Foakes and Curran, who is in World Cup squad, for their efforts with the bat against Ireland.
Morgan signed off by saying, “I knew it would be challenging at stages but the bowlers did a great job. Three or four of us batted poorly but Ben Foakes batted superbly on debut and he and Tom Curran got us over the line. We found a way to win today, which is nice.”
(With ESPNcricinfo Inputs)
