Foakes scored an unbeaten 61 to guide England's chase of 199. © AFP

With an assured, unbeaten half-century on his ODI debut, Ben Foakes may have led England to their victory target in the one-off game against Ireland in Malahide on Friday, but he is not expecting to get regular game time in the 50-over side.

Foakes was only called-up to the squad because of an injury to Sam Billings. The Kent captain dislocated his shoulder playing for his county last week and with Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler rested after their IPL exertions, Foakes, who scored a hundred on his Test debut in Sri Lanka during the winter, was the next in line.

He scored 61 not out and put on an unbeaten stand of 98 with Tom Curran for the seventh wicket as England, having slumped to 101-6, chased down Ireland's 198 all out in a tight, tense match. Foakes' performance was a reminder that England have an embarrassment of riches in the wicket-keeping area but the Surrey man was not getting carried away.

"Probably not with Jos and Jonny being the first or second best batters in the world," he said when asked if he can be an England regular. "This chance was something I did not expect."

England were short of six regulars and were tested by a spirited Irish effort, particularly with the ball. Although there were some loose shots from their batsmen, Eoin Morgan's men should be better for the workout and as they approach the World Cup it's more beneficial to be battle hardened with games such as these rather than turn up underdone.

"I knew it would be challenging at stages but the bowlers did a great job," said Morgan. "Three or four of us batted poorly but Ben Foakes batted superbly on debut and he and Tom Curran got us over the line. We found a way to win today, which is nice."

"It was a bit of a grind," said Foakes. "It was a rebuilding job. It suited my game. I could get my head down and fight it out a bit. They were tricky conditions - it was nipping about a bit - so with their bowlers we had to stick in and take what was on offer. Because we bowled so well and restricted them to less than 200, the run-rate never got beyond us."

One disappointment for England was an injury to Dawid Malan which is likely to rule him out of the T20I against Pakistan on Sunday in Cardiff. The Middlesex batsman, also making his debut, suffered what looked like a groin issue early on in his innings which prevented him moving freely. If he is ruled out, England will have just 12 fit players for the match in Wales and may consider adding another batsman to the squad.