09 October 2023 , 06:00
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When England posted 327-8 off their 50 overs, they must have thought that a win was incoming against Ireland. But they didn’t account for Kevin O’Brien.
England were the overwhelming favourites against Ireland for the match in Bangalore at the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Ireland had been bowled out for 178 in their opening defeat by Bangladesh, while England had eased to victory against the Netherlands and then produced a dramatic tie against hosts India.
Andrew Strauss’ side was stacked with legends of the game: Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad and James Anderson. They had the big names, the experience and the form. And they also had Ireland 111-5 in the 25th over.
Jonathan Trott (92), Bell (82) and Pietersen (59) had all scored runs and their total looked to be beyond Ireland’s grasp. Ireland were given odds of 400/1 by bookies when Alex Cusack came to the crease to join Kevin O’Brien.
But Kevin O’Brien – the younger brother of Niall, who had already been and gone – is not your normal cricketer. For one he was sporting dyed pink hair. For another he was completely fearless.
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“We were pretty much dead in the water,” O’Brien later told the Emerging Cricket podcast. “I remember saying to Alex Cusack, I said: ‘listen, why don’t we just play a few shots. I’d rather lose trying to win the game and get bowled out for 160 in 26 overs or 27 overs, than tap it around for the next 20 overs and lose by 50 runs and basically bore the crowd for an hour and a half, and bore the people watching on TV, bore the people commentating on the game’.”
O’Brien was not anything but boring. He went absolutely berserk, smashing six sixes and 13 fours in a 50-ball hundred, dominating a stand of 162 in 17 overs with Cusack (47). It was the fastest ever hundred in the World Cup and it stunned a shell-shocked England.
Kevin O'Brien of Ireland celebrates with his brother Niall O'Brien in Bangalore (Tom Shaw/Getty Images)Once on a roll, O’Brien just went with it, refusing to take his foot off the accelerator. “We just took our chances,” he said. “I slogged a couple in the stands off Swann, Cusie hit a couple here and there and all of a sudden after 30 overs we took the Powerplay, which was unheard of in around that time in international cricket because a lot of teams left the five over batting Powerplay to probably the last ten overs. I remember saying to Cusie: ‘Listen, why don’t we just take it now? Just for a bit of craic’.”
That craic led him to 113 off 63, when he was run out. But with the score at 317, he had already taken Ireland close to the finish line and the game away from England. The scenes inside the Chinnaswamy Stadium when the winning runs were hit were unforgettable. Ireland had beaten Pakistan at the 2007 World Cup, but this was on another level.
“We weren’t expecting such an innings from Kevin O’Brien,” England captain Strauss admitted post-match. “We thought we had done a reasonable job with the bat and also with the ball initially.”
Ireland went on to lose their next three games against India, West Indies and South Africa and did not qualify for the knockout stages. But they had already made history, beating their famous neighbours on the world’s biggest stage.