Just over two weeks after their historic triumph in the World Cup final at the same ground, the English team, albeit in a different format, suffered a humiliating experience at Lord's. The hosts were knocked over for a paltry 85 in one session after choosing to bat first in the one-off Test – only the third for the Irish team in their young Test history. The destroyer-in-chief for England's neighbours was seamer Tim Murtagh who finished with figures of 5/13 and becomes the first cricketer from his nation that will have the honour of his name being engraved upon the Lord's honours board. This is the first time in their history that England have been bowled out in the first session of a Lord's Test.
The devastation started early as Jason Roy, brought into the Test team after his heroics in the World Cup, was sent back by Murtagh in the 3rd over. He was followed by the no. 3 batter Joe Denly in the tenth and the other opener Rory Burns in the very next over. The wicket of captain Joe Root by debutant Mark Adair in the 12th over put the English team in a dangerous situation that eventually produced the horrible result for them. Adair finished with three wickets while the remaining two were picked by former English Test cricketer Boyd Ranking, now representing his native country.
The focus now shifts to Ireland's batting to see whether they can follow up this advantage and pull off one of the greatest upsets in Test history by defeating the oldest Test playing nation.
