Thaindian News

London, Aug 25 (IANS) Ireland’s charismatic batsman Kevin O’Brien said he would love to tonk the England side the way he did in Bangalore in the World Cup when the two teams clash in an ODI at Dublin Thursday.

“You always hope to play like that again but I don’t know if I ever will,” O’Brien was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

“It will be nice if I can do half the job I did in Bangalore.”

O’Brien hit 113 off 63 balls, swatting 13 fours and six sixes, as Ireland recorded the highest successful run chase in World Cup history - 329 for seven. He comfortably broke Matthew Hayden’s record for the fastest century, reaching three figures off 50 balls, 16 fewer than the great Australian.

It is the innings that relaunched a failed county career and even inspired a book with O’Brien hoping to shift a few copies Thursday of ‘Six After Six’, an autobiography which relives Irish cricket’s most famous moment.

O’Brien has never watched the entire innings and is modest talking about his performance but his brother Niall, Ireland’s wicketkeeper, is happy to reveal what sparked an onslaught that England failed to contain.

“He was very grumpy in the field,” Niall said.

“He let a ball bobble out of his hand and let two runs through. Ed Joyce said go and have a word with him but I said let him be.

“I have seen him like that before and know when he is grumpy in the outfield he normally bats really well so I thought something might happen. It was a once in a lifetime innings. Just one of those days when everything he tried came off and he played terrifically well.”