Ireland miss out on historic win after being destroyed by England attack
As the country basks in a heatwave, it was the England cricket team who proved to be too hot with the ball as they ripped though the Ireland batting order in just over an hour to secure victory in the four-day test.
In just their third ever Test match, Ireland looked to be on the brink of a historic victory at Lord’s.
However, a horrendous batting collapse instead left them wondering what might have been against an England side gearing up for the start of next week’s Ashes series.
Ireland had impressed in the opening two days of the Test and made England sweat with some admirable work in the field across their two innings, leaving the home side 303-9 at the end of day two.
Any plans for England to add to their overnight total were immediately dashed as they lost their last wicket with the very first ball of the day.
Olly Stone was bowled by Stuart Thompson leaving the Irish with 182 to chase for the win.
A rain-interrupted morning session meant Ireland took time to get off the mark and soon found themselves one down as Jonny Bairstow took an excellent catch off the bowling of Chris Woakes to send William Porterfield on his way.
The prospect of a famous win quickly evaporated and Ireland lost their nerve going from 11-1 to 24-6 by only the 10th over.
Wickets continued to tumble and England managed to wrap up victory just six overs later, bowling their opponents out for a feeble 38 runs.
Woakes was in devastating form taking six wickets for just 17 runs while Stuart Broad ended the day with an impressive 4-19.
Ireland’s total is the seventh lowest test score in a single innings, ending what could have been a memorable day in disappointment.
After bowling England out for just 85, Ireland put on 207 in their opening innings.
England managed to build up a lead despite a second innings batting collapse, but Ireland would have certainly considered it attainable.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as England showed their class to come through what was, for the most part, a difficult Test ahead of the first test against Australia at Edgbaston next week.
