England duly completed a clean sweep of their three-match ODI series against England in sunny Worcester and left Ireland still waiting for their first win in the World Cup qualifying.

It was a more positive batting display by Ireland than in the second match on Thursday – it had to be! – but the England bowling, as  it has been for most of the series, was just too accurate and the Irish batters too often found the fielders.

Encouragingly, the Ireland fielding was a vast improvement with not only four boundary catches taken but also two run outs. It all added up to England being bowled out with seven balls unused for 291.

That total was just 10 more than Ireland scored at Leicester in the first match last Tuesday but this was a much slower pitch with runs harder to come by and Ireland never threatened to get anywhere close. The final margin was a huge 114 runs.

Gaby Lewis won her first toss of the series and after deciding to bowl first announced that Arlene Kelly had been recalled to play her 110th and final international, just four years after her debut against South Africa at Sydney Parade.

She made her ODI debut eight days later against the same opposition at Castle Avenue and as she did then, she was given the new ball. In 2022, she shared it with Jane Maguire, today she replaced Maguire in the team.

Neither Kelly, nor new ball partner, Orla Prendergast however could make a breakthrough and, much like the last game, the boundaries flowed from the start with 11 fours in the powerplay as England hit 61 in the 10 overs.

The most impressive of the four bowlers used was again Kia McCartney and she was rewarded in her third over with the wicket of Maia Bouchier, who got the leading edge and Lewis held a comfortable catch.

It was the start of Ireland’s most impressive bowling of the series with only one boundary in the next 10 overs but there was no sign of another wicket. Indeed Sophia Dunkley and Jodi Grewcock added 110 for the second wicket, dominated by the opener, who brought up her second ODI century in the 29th over from exactly 100 balls.

Grewcock was the first to go, to a return catch by Cara Murray and Alice Capsey followed quickly, thanks to a superb throw by McCartney.

Dunkley finally perished, caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Prendergast for 119, still at exactly a run a ball, having hit 15 fours.

Murray enjoyed a double strike in the 43rd over when she had Freya Kemp caught on the boundary by Lewis and then a smart catch by Amy Hunter accounted for England captain Charlie Dean for just four. She also dislodged the bails with the batter out of ground but the catch took precedence.

That reduced England to 264 for six and to their credit Ireland rammed home the advantage with Murray picking up a fourth wicket followed by Kelly taking the 136th of her Ireland career, Ryana McDonald-Gay caught behind .

Another superb throw, this time from Lara McBride – in for Georgina Dempsey – ran out England’s second top scorer Dani Gibson for 42 and Prendergast, who ended up as the most expensive bowler on the day, picked up the final wicket.

All the Ireland batters got starts but only Hunter got into the 30s and she didn’t get out of them, stumped for 39 at a strike rate of 67, with  only three boundaries.

Lewis, with the help of a six and a four off McDonald-Gay in the second over hit a run-a-ball 16, but Alice Tector found runs hard to come  by and faced 59 balls – more than anyone – for 29 runs with just two fours.

Rebecca Stokell, embarrassingly, missed a slow bouncer and was stumped and when Prendergast was caught at deep mid-wicket Ireland were 133 for five after 34 overs.

Leah Paul and Louise Little added 34 for the sixth wicket but after Little missed a sweep shot, the tail folded quietly and quickly, the last five wickets, including Kelly for two off six balls, falling for just 10 runs.

The big positive in the series, as Lewis said in her post-match chat to Sky Sports, was the young spin attack, with McCartney especially impressive.

“They are constantly learning, especially in series against top players. These series are so valuable. We’re only going up”.