England captain Andrew Strauss praised Ireland after their shock three-wicket win in Bangalore - and also admitted his side have to improve in the field if they are to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.
Kevin O'Brien slammed 113 off 63 balls as Ireland staged the highest run chase in tournament history, knocking off a target of 328 with five balls to spare.
England dropped five catches in all, Strauss himself guilty of giving O'Brien a life on 91, albeit a tough chance over his shoulder as he ran back.
"We thought we had done a reasonable job with the bat, we got Ireland five down and things looked comfortable," Strauss told Sky Sports.
"We weren't reckoning on an outstanding innings from Kevin O'Brien. It was pretty brutal."
Response
England have now won only one of their opening three Group B matches, but Strauss insisted their hopes of advancing to the last eight were not dead.
"Our World Cup dream is not over, but we've been haemorrhaging runs too quickly," he added. "We've got to go away, lick our wounds.
"I'm at a loss to explain it, we put down another three or four catches today."
Strauss also revealed Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann both picked up niggles, but said they should be fit for Sunday's showdown with South Africa.
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