Georgetown, March 30: Ireland reflected on a 48-run defeat to England by rueing missed opportunities after they started brightly in the World Cup Super Eights match on Friday.
England`s first points in the Super Eights were not in any doubt towards the end but early in their innings when they were 113-4, Ireland appeared as though they could be heading for another giant-killing.
They qualified from their group following a shock victory over 1992 champions Pakistan, who were eliminated.
Instead, England batsman Paul Collingwood scored 90 and helped the English to a total of 266-7 from their 50 overs. Ireland managed 218 in reply.
"(Andrew) Flintoff was coming to the crease and in my opinion he`s the best all-rounder in the world and Collingwood was still there so we had to break that partnership quick smart," Ireland skipper Trent Johnston told reporters.
"But we knew if we could get a bit of luck or if someone could do something special we could have broken that partnership and limited them to 200 or 210.
"That would have been very much an achievable total so I think we will learn from that."
Ireland, in their first World Cup, have yet to be embarrassed by any of the Test teams in this competition so far. They tied with Zimbabwe in their opening game.
"I`m proud but disappointed at the same time," Johnston added. "The way we performed in the first 40 overs was outstanding on that wicket and against that quality of batsmen.
"Unfortunately, we let it slip and they took us for 90-odd in those last 10 overs and then got off to a good start.
"We got stuck in the middle and had a few problems with the spinners.
"If we had played the way we played against Canada and South Africa in the warm-up games and against Pakistan we may have got closer.
"But it`s just another learning curve for us and if we can improve on that in the next five games I`ll be very happy."
Bureau Report
