Defeat for Ireland but heads are held high
IRELAND came up short in their bid to pull off a miracle in Malahide, beaten by five wickets in their enthralling inaugural Test with Pakistan.
Hopes of an unlikely home victory were raised on the final day when Pakistan, chasing 160, crashed to 14 for three. But halfcenturions Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam helped the tourists home ahead of their meeting with England at Lord’s next week.
William Porterfield, though, feels Ireland proved they belong in cricket’s longest format after a gripping five-wicket loss to Pakistan.
There have been just three victories for teams following on, and no country has won their inaugural Test since Australia won the first ever contest in 1877, yet Ireland flirted with making history on both fronts by making 339 second time around.
Having beaten Pakistan, West Indies and England at World Cups, Porterfield felt their spirited performance in Malahide was evidence they deserve their seat at the sport’s top table too.
‘The biggest thing was how we fought back in the second innings with the bat — that showed the character we have,’ the Irish captain said.
‘It’s something that’s been talked about during big occasions, World Cups. That’s always been known to be there but Test cricket is Test cricket for a reason, it’s there in the name, you get tested and we were after the first innings.
‘To get up to close to 350 showed what we’ve got in the changing room and the passion that we have for playing our cricket.’
Those who turned up to watch proceedings across the five days included Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. Yet he missed Kevin O’Brien post a century the following day — a feat Porterfield hopes can have a lasting impact for the future of the game in the country.
‘Hopefully in the next week or two there’s going to be hundreds of little kids aspiring to be Kevin O’Brien in backstreet cricket,’ he added.
‘This Test match will have gone a long way to providing the next generation of cricketers, I’m sure.’
Some of their elders may have been hooked by O’Brien’s previous international ton — a recordbreaking 50-ball effort in the World Cup victory over England in 2011.
Yet the downsizing of the 50-over competition, and Ireland’s failure to qualify for one of the 10 berths, means Porterfield’s team will not be in next year’s tournament.
‘We wouldn’t have got to where we were if we didn’t get those opportunities to put down a marker on the world stage,’ he claimed.
‘That gives you an opportunity to create enough noise. To miss out by it just being a 10-team World Cup is bitterly disappointing. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play a Test match today I don’t think if we hadn’t been playing the last 10, 12 years at World Cups.’
Ireland can take heart from the fact they had Pakistan fearing they would enter next week’s meeting with England at Lord’s on the back of a Test defeat. As it was, a key fourth-wicket stand of 126 from their own Test debutant Imam and 23-year-old Azam spared their blushes.
‘Definitely we were worried when we were down 14 for three,’ captain Sarfraz Ahmed admitted.
The result had appeared to be a foregone conclusion on Sunday when Pakistan made Ireland follow-on due to their 180-run lead, but O’Brien’s century guided the hosts to 339 second time around.
That knock ended on 118 to his first ball yesterday with Mohammad Abbas taking the final three Irish wickets within 40 minutes. Despite further fireworks early in Pakistan’s innings, the hosts were unable to record the win.
The 160 target was still enough to make the chase intriguing, though, and the drama grew once Tim Murtagh and Rankin made early inroads.
Azhar Ali’s tactic of dancing down to Murtagh proved shortlived as a shaped delivery did for him and he edged through to first slip from the innings’ fourth ball.
Pakistan then slipped to 13 for two for the second time in the match when Haris Sohail attempted one drive too many and picked out Ed Joyce at gully off Rankin. And when Murtagh struck again, bowling Asad Shafiq through the gate, Ireland sensed a stunning success.
The 11th Test nation’s optimism began to dissipate with Imam and Azam at the crease, though the former was fortunate an edge dropped short off Murtagh and the latter was almost undone by a Rankin yorker.
Imam, in particular, looked at ease and was scampering between the wickets — a trait his uncle Inzamam-ul-Haq was not renowned for during his career — as Pakistan reached lunch 52 for three, needing 108 more.
Ireland could not afford any missed opportunities and Andrew Balbirnie, who got a pair with the bat, endured another moment to forget at third slip when he put down Azam from his first ball faced in the second session.
With the threat of rain to come later in the day, Pakistan sensed the need to accelerate against attacking Irish fields and Imam soon moved to his maiden 50 before Azam progressed to his fifth.
Balbirnie at least had some reason to remember this match fondly when his throw back to Stuart Thompson at the non-striker’s end ran out Azam on 59.
Thompson then pinned Sarfraz Ahmed in front but Pakistan got over the line prior to tea, with Imam unbeaten on 74.