MELBOURNE: Ireland pulled off a stunning upset on Wednesday as they defeated world number two England by five runs in a rain-affected match at the Twenty20 World Cup in Melbourne.
After being sent in to bat, Ireland was all out for 157 with four balls remaining. England's chase had reached 105-5 when rain ended play after 14.3 overs, five runs behind on the DLS scoring method.
England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to bowl against Ireland at the Twenty20 World Cup in overcast conditions in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The English were among the title favourites and opened their tournament with a five-wicket win over Afghanistan at the weekend.
Buttler said before the match they were eyeing a big win to boost their net run rate -- small margins can prove significant with just two teams progressing to the semi-finals from Group 1.
England named an unchanged side for a game where rain could play a part. Ireland made one change, with bowling all-rounder Fionn Hand in for spinner Simi Singh.
Ireland beat the West Indies on their way to the Super 12 but was brought back down to earth by a nine-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka on Sunday.
England and Ireland have only met once before in T20s -- in 2010 when the rain ruined the match.
England: Jos Buttler (capt), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Ireland: Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Fionn Hand, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little
Umpires: Adrian Holdstock (RSA), Paul Reiffel (AUS)
TV Umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
Match Referee: Ranjun Madugalle (SRI)