Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

England v Ireland, one-off Test, 1 June, 2023Ireland batsmen battling hard in Test

minus
plus

Ireland, in their second Test match at the HQ of cricket after four years – when they had come so close to pulling off a remarkable victory but for their poor batting which saw them dismissed for 38 in the second innings – were, this time, 162 for 7 at tea on the first day of this one-off Test.


Having been asked to bat in cloudy conditions their top order began to collapse as early as the fifth over when a fairly straight ball from Stuart Broad trapped Peter Moor lbw for 10. Moor had seemed to be settling in well with a couple of fours driven off Broad before the bowler struck.


In his next over Broad removed the Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie and Harry Tector within three balls without either of them managing to open their account. Zak Crawley at second slip held a fine low catch off an outside edge as Balbirnie attempted a push to the off.


Two balls later Harry Tector’s flick off his pads went into the hands of Matthew Potts at backward short leg and Broad had 3 for eight in just 3.3 overs with Ireland on 19 for three. That was quite a blow to the Ireland innings as much was expected of Tector with three half centuries in his three Tests and four ODI hundreds.


Much depended on James McCullum and Paul Stirling to repair the damage and they did so to an extent. While McCullum progressed steadily, Stirling went for his shots after surviving an appeal for leg before to his third ball with the review showing the ball just missing the leg stump.


He got off the mark with a four and picked up four more boundaries the last of which was a lovely off drive – his last scoring shot – off left-arm spinner Jack Leach which took him to 30 from 28 balls. Leach then hit back to reduce Ireland to 64 for four with Stirling’s wicket. Stirling was surprised with the extra bounce as he went for a sweep and the ball popped up off his gloves for wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow to hold a simple catch.


At Lunch, Ireland were 78 for four with McCullum keeping his end going on 29 from as many as 93 balls knowing it was imperative to keep wickets intact at that stage. But after a 7-run addition to his score McCullum edged Broad to first slip for Joe Root to snap him up and that was 98 for five and Broad had excellent figures of four for 27 in 10 overs.


The hundred of the innings came from 32.3 overs and four runs later Lorcan Tucker fell lbw to give Leach his second wicket for 25 with a ball that came into the right-hander and Tucker’s review was not successful as the ball would have clipped the off bail.


On 142, Potts was back for another spell and he found McBrine’s outside edge for a catch behind. Curtis Campher meanwhile progressed to 32.


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon