Afghans humble Irish
Murtagh saves the blushes for hapless Ireland with a half-century stand
DEHRADUN
(India): A half-century by No. 11 batsman Tim Murtagh saved Ireland from humiliation before they were bowled out by Afghanistan for 172 on the first day of the one-off Test yesterday.
The 37-year-old Murtagh made an unbeaten 54 off 75 balls to keep Ireland going until just before tea, much to the frustration of Afghanistan.
Ireland collapsed to 85-9 after lunch against the spin trio of Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, and debutant Waqar Salamkheil, who shared seven wickets before Murtagh led the counterattack.
With George Dockrell proving a perfect foil to Murtagh, they added 87 runs. Dockrell made 39, and Murtagh hit four boundaries and two sixes.
Fast bowler Yamin Ahmadzai finally ended Ireland’s resistance when he had Dockrell caught behind. He took 3-41.
Earlier, Ireland had a woeful first session when they were reduced to 69-7 by lunch.
Opening batsman Paul Stirling smashed six fours in a breezy knock of 26, and captain William Porterfield appeared to have made the right decision to bat first.
Stirling hit fast bowler Ahmadzai for three offside boundaries in one over, then Ireland collapsed and lost seven wickets in 25 runs.
Ahmadzai bagged Stirling, who was caught behind, and knocked back Andy Balbirnie’s stumps off an inswinger in his next over.
In between, Nabi (3-36) had Porterfield trapped leg before wicket in his second over.
Rashid (2-20) ran Ireland into deep trouble when he dismissed two of the five Ireland debutants. James McCollom was clean bowled off a sharp googly first up, and one ball later Stuart Poynter was lbw off a full toss as Ireland slipped to 55-5.
Nabi added the wickets of veteran Kevin O’Brien for 12 and Stuart Thompson for 3. Thompson took 27 balls to get off the mark before giving a sharp close catch.
The unorthodox left-arm spinner Salamkheil (2-35) removed Andy McBrine and James Cameron-Dow after lunch but Murtagh’s brilliant half-century denied Afghanistan until tea.
This is only the second Test for the team since the ICC awarded them Test status in 2017. Afghanistan lost their inaugural Test to India last year, and Ireland lost to Pakistan.
There were three Test newcomers for Afghanistan: Batsmen Ihsanullah Janat and Ikram Ali Khil, and fast bowler Waqar Salamkheil. — AP