We let the match slip away from our hands: Irish skipper

Georgetown, Guyana, Mar 31 (UNI) Irish captain Trent Johnson admitted that his bowlers let England off the hook in the slog overs which ultimately led to the debutants' 48-run defeat in the World Cup Super Eight match.

''We were doing very well in restricting them till the 40th over but in the last 10 over, we gave away more than 90 runs. That was the difference between us and England,'' Johnston said after yesterday's match.

Paul Collingwood scored 90 off 82 balls as England put up 266 for seven when at one stage, even 220 seemed bit of a luxury.

However, Johnston appeared statisfied with his team's overall show and exuded confidence that Ireland would do well the matches to come.

''We once again proved that Ireland can play well and had it not been some mistakes the total would have been gettable,'' he said.

Both he and coach Adrian Birrell also admired field placement deployed by the rival skipper Michael Vaughan.

''Further in the middle overs of our innings, Monty Panesar and Vaughan did exceptionally well by restricting us,'' he said.

However, England captain Vaughan focused more on the forthcoming Sri Lanka match as he gave enough impression that Ireland were there to beat.

''We needed those two points and we are happy. Ireland played well but all credit goes to Paul Collingwood for playing that beautiful innings of 90 runs,'' he said.

UNI