Jordan Cox marked his return to international cricket in spectacular fashion by blasting a quickfire fifty despite a knee problem to guide England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland and seal a 2-0 series triumph at a sold-out Malahide on Sunday.

The 24-year-old, who had not played for England for over a year and was not even named in the original squad, smashed 55 off 35 deliveries at No 4 to help his side chase down a modest target of 155 with 17 balls to spare.

ENGLAND WIN! 🎉

Job done here in Malahide and we take the series 2-0 🙌 pic.twitter.com/czRb76Ypzj

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 21, 2025

Cox was injured while taking the catch when he seemed to jar his knee in the turf at deep midwicket, forcing him to go off the field for treatment, but that did not stop him from coming out to bat when England needed him at 33-2.

His sudden recall to the England setup came after his heroics in The Hundred, where he finished as both the tournament's top scorer and player of the series.

England had won the first match by chasing down 197 while the second match was rained out. As they wrapped up the series 2-0, it gave 21-year-old Jacob Bethell a first trophy as the country's youngest captain in any format.

"I couldn't have dreamed it any better. The rained out game was unfortunate but to come out 2-0 winners in my first series as captain is a great feeling," Bethell told TNT Sports.

"We were nice and aggressive throughout the whole week."

Ireland had built a platform through Ross Adair (33) and Harry Tector (28) at the top of the order but they crumbled against England's spin twins Adil Rashid (3-29) and Liam Dawson (2-9).

Jamie Overton also picked up two wickets in one over to leave the hosts reeling at 58-4 but Gareth Delany played a cameo in the middle order to finish unbeaten on 48 off 29 balls.

England's chase stuttered when Jos Buttler fell for a duck but Phil Salt (29) and Cox stitched together a 57-run partnership before Tom Banton (37 not out) helped the tourists get over the line.

"Credit to Ireland, they bowled well defending 150-odd," said Rashid, who was named the player of the match.

"You've got to adapt to the ground, wherever you go. I thought as a group we did that really well."

England's second T20 clash with Ireland was abandoned due to heavy rain at Malahide on Friday.

The match was scheduled to start at 1230 GMT in front of a sell-out 4 500 crowd, but the bad weather conditions forced umpires to hold a pitch inspection at 1100 GMT.

With no sign of the rain relenting after the delayed start, the game was called off later in the afternoon without a ball being bowled.

The final game of the three-match series is scheduled for Sunday.

Inspired by Phil Salt's superb 89 from 46 balls, England successfully chased 197 to win Wednesday's opener by four wickets.

Phil Salt backed up a record-breaking century with a powerful innings of 89 as England beat Ireland by four wickets in the first T20 in Dublin on Wednesday.

Opening batsman Salt led the way as England chased down a target of 197 with 14 balls to spare to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

🦁 A winning start! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Victory by four wickets in our series opener! 🏏

Match Centre: https://t.co/HJvt1MkksO pic.twitter.com/HnSl9vaPgq

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 17, 2025

Jacob Bethell, 21, became England's youngest men's captain in an international match, breaking the record of Monty Bowden, who was aged 23 years and 144 days when he captained England against South Africa in 1889.

The all-rounder is leading England in the series in Ireland in place of rested all-format mainstay Harry Brook.

Salt scored 141 not out, England's highest individual T20 total, in their their jaw-dropping score of 304-2 against South Africa at Old Trafford last week.

England fielded a much-changed side in Dublin but Salt enjoyed another blistering first-wicket partnership with Jos Buttler at Malahide, with the pair racing to 74 inside five overs.

Buttler (28) was first to go but Salt continued his rampage, striking 10 fours and four sixes in 46 balls before he was caught off the bowling of Graham Hume in the 16th over.

Run machine! 🔥

Box office from Phil Salt 🤩 pic.twitter.com/nSsE3MLqqt

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 17, 2025

Earlier, Bethell fell for 24, holing out tamely to extra cover.

Ireland posted 196-3, with Harry Tector (61 not out) and Lorcan Tucker (55) providing the bulk of their runs but that total was soon put into perspective as England took the game by the scruff of the neck.

The teams will meet again at Malahide on Friday, with the final match of the series taking place two days later.

Ireland seamers Josh Little, Fionn Hand and Mark Adair will miss this month's three-match home Twenty20 series against England through injury, as wicketkeeper-batter Ben Calitz looks to make his senior international debut.

 

⌛️ 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐒 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨!

Ireland v England. T20I. Malahide.

🎟️ 𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬: https://t.co/jMuYltsQZS

Wed – Available
Fri – Nearly sold out*
Sun – Nearly sold out*
*𝘓𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯

Don’t wait 👀#BackingGreen… pic.twitter.com/UrehDvta4c

— Cricket Ireland (@cricketireland) September 3, 2025

 

Adair underwent knee surgery last month, while Little has a side problem and Hand is also recovering from injury.

Canada-born Calitz, 23, is the only uncapped player in the squad captained by Paul Stirling, who will face England in Dublin on September 17, 19 and 21.

“While it’s unfortunate that Mark, Fionn and Josh are not available, this series will give several other members of the bowling group the chance to step up and challenge for World Cup spots," national selector Andrew White said in a statement.

IRELAND SQUAD:

Paul Stirling (captain), Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Barry McCarthy, Jordan Neil, Harry Tector, Ben White, Craig Young.