England made light work of chasing 197 in sunny Malahide, sauntering home with 14 balls unused to take a 1-0 lead over Ireland. Fresh from his fourth T20 international hundred at Old Trafford on Friday night, Phil Salt fell just short of a record-equalling fifth but his 89 from 46 balls underpinned a chase that proved much simpler than the margin suggests.

It made for a serene start to life as an international captain for Jacob Bethell who, at 21, became the youngest man to lead England, deputising for Harry Brook. His own contribution was a cameo of 24 from No. 3, which featured one of the day’s 22 sixes with a crisply-struck slog-sweep over the temporary stand at midwicket, before he chipped to extra cover.

Bethell’s first act was to send Ireland into bat on a green-tinged surface, anticipating early movement after overnight rain. His bowling changes did little to limit the damage inflicted by Paul Stirling, Harry Tector and Lorcan Ticker as Ireland posted 196, but Malahide’s short boundaries and Salt’s rich form ensured that they were at least 20 runs light.

“I was quite disappointed at Trent Bridge not to get out there and have a chance to win a series against South Africa, but at the same time, I’m pleased that we’ve come here and chased down those runs in quite a professional way,” Salt said. “I’m really pleased to finish the job off in the way we did.”

Curiously, this was England’s first win in this format over their close neighbours, after a no-result and a DLS defeat at the 2010 and 2022 T20 World Cups. In the injured pair of Mark Adair and Josh Little, Ireland were without both of their opening bowlers from the more recent meeting at MCC three years ago, their attack looked toothless in their absence.

Salt and Buttler put on 126 off 47 balls inEngland’s record breaking blitz against South Africa on Friday night, and played with the same aggressive intent against an understrength attack. Their opening stand was worth 74 in 28 balls, and they were briefly on track to threaten the record Powerplay score of 100 for 0 they set in Manchester.

Salt launched Barry McCarthy for two sixes in his first over, and Buttler treated Graham Hume’s medium pace with utter disdain. He plundered 22 runs from the third over of the innings, with four fours and a six over wide long-off, but could not resist the temptation to keep swinging against Matthew Humphreys and miscued a catch to midwicket.

Buttler’s dismissal left Salt as the senior player in England’s batting line-up, and he throttled back after reaching a 20-ball 50 – one ball slower than he managed last week. He continued to put loose balls away, with back-to-back boundaries off Craig Young to bring up England’s team hundred inside eight overs, but gave the strike to his partners.

Rehan Ahmed was promoted to No. 4 in his first international appearance since November, but made little impact. After bowling a solitary wicketless over, he was adjudged not out by an inconclusive replay when slicing Gareth Delany’s legspin to Hume at short third, but was bowled by one that kept low when charging two balls later.

Perhaps the turning point came when Salt, on 51, picked out deep midwicket off a high full toss from Tector, spearing his part-time offbreaks in from around the wicket. The umpires checked for a high full-toss, only to discover that Tector had overstepped; from that point until his dismissal, Salt did not offer another chance.

Sam Curran holed out for 27 looking to hit Hume for a third consecutive six, and his dismissal sparked a minor England wobble, losing three wickets in 10 balls including Salt slicing to deep point. But Jamie Overton belted Barry McCarthy over mid-on to take them home, hardly breaking a sweat in the process.

Stirling, Ireland’s captain, said his players were under-prepared heading into this series after a sparse summer schedule, but looked ready enough when slapping the first legal ball through point. After three steady overs, he launched Liam Dawson into the hospitality tent at long-off for the first of 12 sixes in Ireland’s innings, before depositing Curran over midwicket.

Ross Adair, his opening partner, slog-swept Dawson to deep midwicket to fall for 26 after tucking into Overton, but Stirling continued on his merry way. He belted his third and fourth sixes off Rashid and Dawson respectively, and it took a sharp catch from Will Jacks on the long-on boundary to prevent his fifth as he fell for 34 off 22.

At 67 for 2 in the ninth over Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker could have been forgiven for consolidating. They saw things differently: Tector slog-swept Rashid for six two balls after Stirling’s dismissal, reached out to drive Rehan’s first ball through cover for four, and watched Tucker whip Curran past short fine leg.

Tucker was given out lbw when struck on the pad by Rashid’s legbreak, but successfully overturned the decision on review and went on the attack as Luke Wood returned. They found fifth gear at the death, bringing up half-centuries off 34 (Tector) and 35 balls (Tucker) as the final three overs went for 45, with George Dockrell hitting his only ball – the last – for six.

Tector and Tucker’s partnership was worth 123 off 68 balls, Ireland’s highest stand against any opponent for the third wicket. It was their second-highest total at Malahide, but proved insufficient.

Brief scores:
England 197 for 6 in 17.4 overs  (Phil Salt 89, Jos Buttler 28, Jacob Bethell 24, Sam Curran 27, Tom Banton 11; Matthew Humphreys 2-44, Graham Hume 2-36, Harry Tector 1-22, Gareth Delany 1-13) beat Ireland 196 for 3 in 20 overs (Paul Stirling 34, Ross Adair 26, Harry Tector 61*, Lorcan Tucker 55, Jamie Overton 1-40, Liam Dawson 1-39, Adil Rashid 1-36) by four wickets

[Cricinfo]