On the day when Bethell became the youngest player to captain an English team, his first act as Harry Brook’s stand-in skipper was to win the toss and put the hosts in to bat.
With all the pre-match talk about the amount of cricket, or lack thereof, played by Ireland in the build-up to this series, there will have been plenty of interest in how openers Paul Stirling and Ross Adair fared.
While there were certainly a few instances when the pair appeared to be searching for their rhythm in the early overs, Ireland were 49-0 at the end of the powerplay, with Stirling in particular providing some big hitting.
Of the skipper’s quartet of sixes, two were driven onto the roof of the hospitality tent at the compact ground in north Dublin.
After providing the solid start, the opening pair fell in quick succession with Adair caught on the boundary by Phil Salt in the eighth over when attempting a sweep over the leg side off the bowling of Liam Dawson.
Nine deliveries and 10 runs later, Stirling followed after swiping at the bowling of Adil Rashid with Will Jacks taking the catch.
The arrivals of Harry Tector and then Lorcan Tucker to the crease saw Ireland run an increased number of singles for the remainder of their innings but Tector still added seven boundaries in his unbeaten 61 from 36 balls.
Tector, who brought up his own half-century with a drive for six, almost lasted to the end of the innings, only to edge the penultimate delivery into the gloves of Jos Buttler.
