England under fire over 'pathetic' act in T20 World Cup boilover

England's cricketers have been torn to shreds after a shock loss to Ireland at the T20 World Cup, with Michael Vaughan describing their display as 'pathetic'.

Ireland marked their cricket debut at the MCG on Wednesday with a shock five-run win over England, aided by rain and the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern system.

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England were 5-105 while chasing 158 for victory before rain stopped play after 14.3 overs in the run chase.

The Poms were five runs behind the required total under the DLS system, meaning Ireland secured a famous victory when no further play could occur.

Despite fans crying foul over the weather, the truth was Ireland simply outplayed their more-fancied counterparts.

England's bowling has come under heavy fire in the aftermath, with commentators and former players lashing out.

“England were pretty pathetic for around 15 overs and got it right towards the back end. but the lengths and lines were too inconsistent,” former captain Vaughan said on Cricbuzz live.

“I think England allowed Ireland to play easy shots because the bowling was so poor.

“They should’ve been better, they should’ve been able to switch on sooner. And they just lapsed for that split second and, at this level, it’s very difficult to get back into a competitive mode.”

Paul Newman of the Daily Mail wrote: “Everything was in their favour when Buttler won the toss and asked Ireland to bat against an attack that got everything right against Afghanistan in Perth on Saturday. Only this time they got pretty much everything wrong.

“We cannot blame it on complacency because England resisted the temptation to rest Mark Wood and Chris Woakes and chose an unchanged team.

“But where they were brilliant in the field in Perth they were lacklustre here. It was as if they couldn’t raise themselves at a near empty MCG against underdogs in the Irish.”

Scyld Berry of The Telegraph added: “A fresh, grassy pitch and overhead cloud did not suggest but actively dictated that England should bowl line and length - instead of being suckered by Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker into a bouncer war which saw Ireland shape the match by hitting 59 runs from the six-over powerplay and 92 for one from ten overs.

“Serious questions have to be asked: why were England blown off course so quickly by Ireland’s top three batsmen? Can England win this tournament without Reece Topley, who has gone home with an ankle injury, and who has a dependable temperament under fire and could have been expected to pitch the ball up?

“England batted poorly too, again, of course ... but the truth was that Ireland’s seamers maximised conditions ... whereas England’s did not.”

England under fire after loss to Ireland at World Cup

There was some controversy in the aftermath when England captain Jos Buttler questioned whether there had been gamesmanship from the Irish, given they were two overs behind when the weather decided the match.

But Ireland captain and man of the match Andrew Balbirnie laughed off the suggestion, saying his players were simply slow moving around the field.

"There's certainly something, whether it's gamesmanship ... they knew the rain was coming and could slow the game up," Buttler said.

"We had lost the game before that point."

Buttler said Ireland had put them under pressure immediately after England won the toss.

"We were a long way short of where we needed to be right throughout the game and Ireland deserved to win," he said.

"You should let it hurt ... days like today are really, really disappointing and you have to feel that.

"There's no point saying let's sweep it under the carpet and move on, we have to reflect and do it quickly."

with AAP

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