O’Brien hails record breaking ton

Ireland batsman Kevin O’Brien has declared his match winning century against England is the “best” he has ever played.

O’Brien hit a magnificent 113 and bought up his century in just 50 balls to record the quickest century ever scored at the World Cup as Ireland famously beat England by three wickets on Wednesday.

Chasing a total of 327 set by England, O’Brien led the way with a series of big hits including six 6’s and excellent support from Alex Cusack (49) helped Will Porterfield’s side beat England with five balls to spare.

“I chanced my arm, attacked and batted as positively as I could and thankfully it came off," said O'Brien.

"I kept going and everything went my way, with the odd bit of luck too."

Ireland, who made it past the group stages at the previous World Cup with a remarkable win over Pakistan, will now face India on Sunday on the same pitch, and will have real hope of upsetting the odds against the side that drew with England last Sunday.

O’Brien admitted that the scale of their achievement had yet to sink, while captain Will Porterfield praised his team’s effort after some bookmakers were offering free bets at odds of 400-1 midway through their response.

“(It is) the greatest day in Irish cricket history and one of our best-ever performances.” He said.

"We believed in ourselves and even at 111-5 we managed to bounce back - so all credit to the lads."

"There'll be a big party after this but we still have four games to go and have to produce more big displays." He added.

England now face the prospect of leaving the tournament early if they slip up against Bangladesh and fail to beat either South Africa, who they play on Sunday, or the West Indies.

A free bet on an England departure from the competition currently returns odds of 5-2 with some bookmakers.

Captain Andrew Strauss admitted he was “bitterly disappointed” with the loss and said England need to shore up their bowling if they are to progress beyond the group stage. He said: “They fully deserved their victory. We're bitterly disappointed, our World Cup is not over by any means but we've been haemorrhaging runs too quickly.”