It was a gamble to bowl Owais Shah, says Paul Collingwood

England's Ashes celebrations almost came to an embarrassing end when they narrowly avoided defeat against Ireland, claiming a three-run victory under the Duckworth/Lewis method in yesterday's one-day international in Belfast.

England's Ashes celebrations almost came to an embarrassing end when they narrowly avoided defeat against Ireland, claiming a three-run victory under the Duckworth/Lewis method in yesterday's one-day international in Belfast.

They spluttered to 203-9, with Oval hero Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara both dismissed without scoring, and

Man-of-the-match Trent Johnston of Ireland celebrates the wicket of England's Ravi Bopara in yesterday's ODI at Belfast. pic/afp

only just managed to hold on as Ireland chased a revised total of 116 in 20 overs after a long rain delay. Only debutant batsman Joe Denly and Luke Wright impressed after England elected to bat in overcast conditions.

Persistent rain stopped the Irish beginning their pursuit for three hours but they finally started with a revised target to aim for.

But the hosts seemed to have blown their chance when they subsided from 64-2 to 89-7.

"We avoided a potential banana skin today. It was a brilliant piece of fielding by Eoin. He had the brains to do what he did and throw the ball down. But we have practised that in the World Twenty20," England all-rounder Paul Collingwood was quoted by The Guardian. He added: "It was a gamble to bowl Owais in the last over.

He hasn't bowled much for us one-day internationals. But their batsmen seemed to like pace on the ball and we decided that cutters and bowling the ball into the pitch was the way to go. It was a very quick turnaround for us but, I was delighted by the way the players battled today."