England advance to Super Eights

England advanced to the Super Eights stage of the World 20/Twenty today after rain caused their decisive Group D match against Ireland to be called off at the Guyana National Stadium.



The \'no result\' after two rain interruptions meant that England and Ireland both ended the preliminary round on one point, but England advanced due to a better net run rate.



The West Indies won the group after defeating both England and Ireland.



Ireland had restricted England to 120 for 8 off 20 overs, but the rain started to fall soon after the Irish went in to bat.



Ireland initially reached 4 without loss off 1.2 overs before rain briefly halted play the first time. The team returned to move on to 14 for 1 off 3.3 overs before the second and final rain delay.



Irish-born Eoin Morgan, playing against his former teammates, had held together the England innings with 45 off 37 balls.



Kevin O\'Brien two for 22 and Boyd Rankin 2 for 25 sparkled for Ireland.



In the earlier match, New Zealand defeated Zimbabwe by seven runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method to advance to the Super Eights.



The competition continues tomorrow in Bridgetown, Barbados with Australia playing Bangladesh and Afghanistan facing South Africa.



Meanwhile, the Women’s 20/Twenty Championship bowls off tomorrow with West Indies starting against South Africa followed by Australia facing reigning champions England.



Both matches will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts.