Biggest victory for Irish cricket

Ireland were 111 for five in pursuit of 328 for victory when O’Brien (113) and Alex Cusack (47) came together, but the fastest century in World Cup history turned the match on its head as O’Brien struck 13 fours and six sixes, including one that measured 102 metres.

England were helpless in the face of his barrage, and watched as O’Brien reached three figures in just 50 balls, comfortably beating the previous record of 66 deliveries that was set by Matthew Hayden in 2007.

Instead of topping Group B, England were left needing two victories from their remaining three games and Strauss could hardly believe the gumption of O’Brien.

“It was an outstanding innings - the gall he showed to take the game to us in that situation,” said the England skipper.

A crucial part of the Ireland duo’s shock tactics came when they took the batting powerplay in just the 32nd over and plundered 62 runs over the next five overs on their way to a 162-run stand.

“They took the powerplay, and Kevin O’Brien struck the ball beautifully,” admitted Strauss.

“He rescued them from a pretty perilous position to one where they were up with the rate and just needed to keep their heads in the end.

“It was a bit of a shock to us, and I’m bitterly disappointed because we did a lot of things badly in the field again.”

England dropped four catches in all, with reprieves for O’Brien and Cusack the most important. Strauss was the man responsible for putting down O’Brien when the plucky batsman was on 91, and was left to reflect on a costly error.

“We could have taken our catches. I dropped one, and we dropped three others as well. That cost us the game - there’s no doubt about it,” he said.

“Our bowling could have been better. We got taken by surprise there - and we can’t afford to give away those kind of chances here.

“They are very flat wickets and you have to take every chance you can get.”

Strauss refused to be drawn on where the three-wicket defeat ranked in his lowest moments, insisting that rating such occasions was not a habit of his, and backed his team to bounce back from the shock result.

With matches against South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh to come and another two wins likely to be needed in order to progress to the quarter finals, England have their backs to the wall.

“We were thinking we were getting some momentum after the India game,” he said, referring to Sunday’s dramatic tie.

“We’re not out of the World Cup by any means - but we need to be better than we were today.”

Biggest victory for Irish cricket