It is March 2, 2011, and we are at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where the mighty English are facing their neighbours, Ireland, in a World Cup encounter far away from the familiar conditions at home. The neutral supporters have already witnessed plenty of runs, having walked into the stadium knowing this was on cards after England’s domination a few days ago at the same venue. But it was getting late as the crowd were still eagerly ready waiting for witnessing a miracle and the equation was simple - Ireland needed three runs to complete a sensational win. Facing James Anderson for Ireland’s historic moment was John Mooney, their Gaelic hero. Before we get to experience the thrills of the final over, let us roll back to the events that got us here. 

The rules were set and the Moneyball was set rolling as India elected to bat first at the Chinnaswamy stadium, one that is widely regarded as one of the best batting tracks in the country. However, on the day, the encounter was far more complex, with turns more obvious and visible than the roads that surrounded the venue in Bengaluru. The English bowlers, in specific, looked like a bunch of ‘hit and go’ bowlers, especially James Anderson who conceded 91 runs in his ten-over spell but Tim Bresnan picked up a fifer to give them the ray of hope. 

Surely it left a stinging effect on the Irish bowlers, who had the toughest task of bowling in the heat during the Indian summer. This was no longer a battle between bowlers and batsmen, it was a battle between bowlers, humidity, dehydration and batsmen. Everything was lopsided in the batsmen’s favour (read: England). As tough as it looked, Ireland in hindsight knew that it was going to get better by the time the sun starts setting. As hot it was in the early parts, dew was going to play a huge factor towards the back-end of the innings and given England’s attack had pacers everywhere, it was going to be an uphill task for the favourites. 

Trott trotted his way to 92, as Bell, Pietersen and Strauss around him managed to up the ante. Mooney was the most impressive of all, picking up four-fer in the innings, but still England toppled Irish bowlers to score 327/8, 11 shy of what they managed to achieve against India a few days ago. For Ireland, this game seemed done even before their chase started, looking at the total on board. But as it stood, conditions became more favourable and batting became friendly. But didn’t they lose a wicket early on? 

Kevin O’Brien did what was needed to pump in something for the game and for the fans, an array of shots inducing entertainment. The crowd forgot where they were and which format the game was, thanks to a T20-esque innings from the all-rounder. He spared none, none whatsoever on the night as he batted with an iron-clad. At the other end was Alex Cusack, who averaged in the lower-20s before this encounter and England hoped he didn’t better his own record. A combination of a tuk-tuk Cusack and a monstrous O’Brien that was on display left  England frustrated, as the fans were thoroughly entertained by their frustration. 

With 56 more runs needed, Cusack had a brain-fade as Mooney joined O’Brien in the middle. After watching a brain-fade from the other end, the all-rounder decided to get involved in another one as 12 runs separated Ireland from a historic victory. So here we are, Mooney and Anderson at either end of the spectrum but only one will stand tall. 

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— faceplatter49 (@faceplatter49) August 6, 2020