It was women against girls at the County Ground in Derby as England swept to a second victory in their ODI series against Ireland.

As if chasing down 282 in the 39th over in the first game was not emphatic enough, it was more of the same punishment for an outclassed Ireland side who were bowled out for 165, after again being put into bat. England won by six wickets with 27 overs to spare.

Ireland used up 47 overs reaching their inadequate total and although they were always on the back foot, after losing four wickets for 83 in 24 overs, even at that stage the lack of intent from the batters was glaring.

As a result, the biggest gulf between the sides was the boundary count. Ireland hit only 10 in their entire innings; England had struck 10, including the first six of the match, by the end of the seventh over!

In the end the margin of victory flattered Ireland as England presented Ireland with the first two wickets. A crazy call by Maia Bouchier left her opening partner Sophia Dunkley with no chance of beating Orla Prendergast’s throw from cover and two overs later, Bouchier, the century maker in Tuesday’s game, pulled a long hop from Kia McCartney straight into the hands of Jane Maguire at short fine leg.

The second wicket coincided with the end of the powerplay but, already almost halfway to their target with 79 on the board, England were still firmly in control.

McCartney was forced to bowl in the powerplay because Bouchier had hit Maguire for four fours in her third over but she certainly deserved her second wicket, the classic off spinner’s delivery which spun back into the pads of Alice Capsey, so plumb that the batter did not even consider a review.

Cara Murray had newcomer Jodi Grewcock caught at mid-wicket by Gaby Lewis but Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson hurried the game to its conclusion, Gibson finishing the match with two straight sixes to sum up England’s dominance.

Ireland made just one change from the first game with Georgina Dempsey coming in for Arlene Kelly, although strangely she was held back to No 10 in the batting order and faced only four balls - she also bowled only two overs - before Maguire and McCartney were both dismissed in what proved to be the final over.

The Ireland innings also started with a run out, although Alice Tector (3 from 9) can consider herself a little unlucky, just beaten a by a direct throw from Dunkley.

Gaby Lewis, who said afterwards it was a "tricky pitch" first thing, after facing 33 balls for 19, was bowled for the second successive game by Issy Wong and Prendergast who hit her first boundary from her 37th delivery, was caught at cow corner from her 48th, with just 25 to her name.

When Rebecca Stokell drove straight to extra cover two overs later, Amy Hunter obviously decided – if she hadn’t already done so – to bat through the innings. Happy to rotate the strike, at every opportunity, it meant that at halfway, when Ireland were 86 for four, Hunter had faced just 45 balls while watching 95 from the other end.

She hit her first four in the eighth over (her 10th ball) and apart from a couple of twos, did not hit her second until the 32nd over (her 67th delivery); every other scoring shot was a single. She did take the applause for her 11th ODI 50 in the 36th over, from 79 balls with three fours.

Hunter shared a fifth wicket partnership of 57 with Leah Paul – the best of the innings – but Paul struggled just as much to get the runs flowing – she hit her first four from her 41st ball but was out two balls later for 23, the return of Wong again doing the damage.

Bowling in tandem with spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman, the runs flow actually got slower with Hunter taking a single of the first ball of the over and Louise Little and Cara Murray unable to score from the remainder of the over.

Little actually took a single from the last ball from a Corteen-Coleman over, failed to score off the first five balls of Wong’s next over and, in desperation, skied straight to mid-off.

Murray was also caught at mid-off after a partnership of 23 balls when the No 8 faced 15 of the deliveries for nine runs. Game management should surely have ensured that the No 3 batter faced the majority of the strike.

As it was, Hunter finally hit her fourth boundary but next ball, holed out to deep mid-wicket to give Wong her fifth wicket. In her 44 over stay, Hunter had faced just 96 balls – the equivalent of 16 overs.

Things hopefully can only get better, when the series and Ireland Women’s summer of cricket ends at Worcester on Sunday (10.30am start).