Infotainment Factory: England's shot at ODI record thwarted by rain

Ben Duckett’s first ODI century for England and Phil Salt's early blitz went unrewarded as the third and final match against Ireland ended in a no result because of more bad weather.

England won the series 1-0 after a 48 run-victory in the second one-day international. The first match was washed out without a ball being bowled.

After Ireland chose to field first, Salt smashed 61 off 28 balls at the County Ground as England brought up 100 in the eighth over, their quickest ODI century, laying the foundations for Duckett, a contender for a non-traveling reserve spot at the Cricket World Cup.

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Duckett brought up his hundred off 72 balls, reaching 107 not out in England’s 4-280 off 31 overs before rain intervened.

If the match was not interrupted by the weather, England would have been a fair chance of becoming the first team to reach 500 in an ODI.

With 19 runs in the first over, England equalled the world record for scoring the most runs in the first over of an ODI and looked in firing form until external forces stopped them from beating their own record.

England broke their own world mark for the highest score in ODI cricket after crunching 4-498 to beat Netherlands by 232 runs in 2022.

The downpour was brief but a deluge saturated the outfield, where several puddles formed almost immediately. There was no more play.

Salt’s innings, which included seven fours and four sixes, plus 39 off 21 balls from Will Jacks helped England set new benchmarks for the fastest a team has reached 50 and 100 when batting first in an ODI. Salt fell to Craig Young at the end of the seventh over.

Salt had set the tone with 18 runs off the first four balls against Mark Adair, with three successive fours before heaving him into the stands beyond midwicket.

Jacks twice pulled over the leg-side for sixes as England got to 50 in 3.3 overs, with left-arm seamer Josh Little especially expensive.

Zak Crawley, who has taken charge of this second-string side with England’s World Cup stars resting, scored 51 in 42 before slicing Ireland debutant Theo van Woerkom to short third.

As Sam Hain began to trudge off after being dismissed for 17 by Young, rain started to fall.

Ireland failed to qualify for next month's World Cup in India.