England suffered a shocking five-run defeat (DLS method) at the hands of Ireland in their T20 World Cup 2022 match at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday (October 26).

Chasing 158 to win, England were reeling at 86/5 in 13.1 overs with multiple Irish bowlers displaying stunning performances.

While Moeen Ali hit some lusty blows to take England to 105/5 in 14.3 overs when the rain entered and played spoilsport. Despite Moeen’s cameo, England were behind the DLS par score and Ireland were eventually declared winner.

After the game, England skipper Jos Buttler took a dig at Ireland over their slow over rate.

“If we were ahead, they wouldn’t have been slowing the game down,” he said in the post match press conference.

However, Buttler acknowledged that England had already lost the game before that point.

“Yeah, it’s certainly something, whether it’s gamesmanship. I knew the rain was coming and could slow the game up. I think we had lost the game before that point. As I mentioned, we had all the things we needed in our favour. If we were ahead, they wouldn’t have been slowing the game down. So I think we should take responsibility ourselves, and we should never let it get to that kind of situation,” he added.

On the other hand, Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie refuted Buttler’s remarks, saying they didn’t slow down the game intentionally.

“No, it wasn’t. Our lads are just really slow on the pitch. It was a huge ground. It wasn’t gamesmanship. If it was, I would have slowed it down even more and we maybe would have been 5 or 6 overs down. Certainly I was trying my best to get out through the overs quick because I didn’t want to rely on the weather,” Balbirnie said.

England will take on Australia in their next match on Friday (October 28) while Ireland will lock horns with Afghanistan on the same day.

(The Indian Express inputs)