As
a prelude to the Ashes, it was ever likely to be a meaningful challenge, was
it? England would simply stack up 500-odd and bowl out the visitors twice
inside a day. Happy days! However, it didn’t work out quite so smoothly. OK, so
Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad admirably demonstrated the art of top-class seam
bowling to demolish Will Porterfield’s side this afternoon, but when another thirty-something
paceman is able to remove Burns, Roy, Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Woakes for a
handful of runs, alarm bells should be ringing in the England camp.
Full
credit to Tim Murtagh, backed by Mark Adair and Boyd Rankin, for embarrassing Root
et al and staking his place on the Lord’s honours board. It shouldn’t be a
surprise. Prior to this Test, the London-born bowler had precisely 800
first-class wickets to his name so taking several more on his home county pitch
was not unexpected. The bald, bare facts state that England beat Ireland by 143
runs inside three days but the home nation had more problems from the Test cricket
newbies than the draining heatwave which weighed heavily on South East England. Why?
Murtagh
was the only regular Ireland representative currently playing regular county
cricket. Middlesex colleague Paul Stirling remains a dangerous one-day opener, but
Gary Wilson, Will Porterfield, Boyd Rankin and Kevin O’Brien have all seen their
Championship days put behind them. All are in their thirties, with Murtagh
rapidly approaching his 38th birthday. Perhaps players of the calibre of Wilson can
stimulate the development of new stars in Ireland’s fledgling professional
structure. If the shamrock-bearers are to achieve a Test victory, this is
essential.
As
for England, this was probably just a hangover from the World Cup and a case of underestimating the opposition. It will probably prove to be a mere hiccup en route to an Ashes triumph
over Australia later in the summer. The batting failures – relying on nightwatchman
Jack Leach for their second-innings runs – will quickly be forgotten when Buttler
and Stokes return. I think Rory Burns will retain his place but not Joe Denly.
If fit, Anderson and WC-winner Jofra Archer must surely be in the first Ashes
Test XI unless Bayliss and co can persuade a certain 38 year-old Londoner to
switch his national allegiance!
