IRELAND’S HISTORY BOYS
Ireland sparkle on Test debut and Pakistani wickets tumble after the sun finally comes out in Malahide
Test debut to savour as Pakistan wickets tumble on day to remember
AFTER waiting 141 years to play their first Test match, it was never going to be a big deal to wait another 24 hours for the start.
And what an opening day Ireland enjoyed! For seven hours, the sun shone, the wickets fell and a crowd of almost 5,000 lapped it all up after captain William Porterfield won the vital toss.
The Irish weather may have put a dampener on the historic opening day but the second more than made up for it from the moment Chairman of Selectors Andrew White presented Porterfield with his Test cap.
It was 50 minutes before the start of play when the Ireland squad gathered in front of the pavilion to receive the dark green caps. It was done in strictly alphabetical order after the skipper so, when the numbers are stitched on, Andrew Balbirnie will always be Test cap No 2 and Gary Wilson No 11.
It was also a novel way of revealing Ireland’s first Test match lineup so after a proud Tyrone Kane received his cap, the next name called out by White was Tim Murtagh and we knew then that Ireland had chosen an all-seam attack with no place for Andy McBrine, the only specialist spinner named in the 14man squad.
His North West Warriors teammate Stuart Thompson was the beneficiary, selected for the all-rounder’ spot at No 8 behind Gary Wilson, Ireland’s specialist No 7 who, after a horror World Cup qualifying tournament, many would say was being rewarded for his 253 appearances since his debut in 2005.
There was raw emotion at the ceremony as the players thought of the 688 who had played before them and others who did not live to see this day.
And when Ireland’s Call rang out – the team shoulder to shoulder singing it loud – 10 minutes before the opening ball, there were more tears.
It has been an amazingly quick journey to the Test stage for Ireland. As Porterfield said at his prematch Press conference: ‘In my career personally, we have gone from not having ODI status to having ODI status and everything else, now we’ll be going out there and playing the first Test match for Ireland.’
Test match status remains an exclusive club. This was only the 10th time a team has played its inaugural Test in those 141 years and only Australia, in the very first, have won. Ireland will forever have their own place in history because this was the first of the 10 matches in which the first day has been lost to weather.
It was also probably the first over of any Test match – and there have been 2,303 – which took eight minutes to bowl the first over. Tim Murtagh, ironically the only non-Irish born player in the team – he qualifies by having three Irish grandparents – had the honour of bowling the first ball.
Pakistan’s most experienced batsman, Azhar Ali, decided to take a quick single and, so surprised by the call, his partner, debutant Imam ul-Haq’s, efforts to reach the other end ended in a head-on collision with Niall O’Brien and Tyrone Kane, dashing in from cover. After passing a few tests Imam was declared fit to face his first ball in Test cricket.
The next first – on what was always going to be a day of them – was the opening wicket, taken by Boyd Rankin, the only person in the Ireland team winning his second
cap and, this was also his second Test wicket, after dismissing Peter Siddle with the last ball of his first and only Test for England four years ago.
Next ball, the crowd in the five temporary stands, erected specially for the occasion, were on their feet again as Murtagh took his first wicket and it could easily have been three in three as Pakistan continued their habit of taking quick singles without, apparently, any hint of a call between the batsmen. Thompson’s throw was just inches wide but Ireland were on top.
The number of empty seats probably disappointed Cricket Ireland because 4,000 of the 6,300 seats had been presold and with glorious weather they were hopeful that ‘walk-ups’ would take it somewhere near capacity. By lunchtime, there were still plenty of seats available and by 4.45pm the crowd had dwindled, undoubtedly affected by a certain rugby match in Bilbao which ensured the bars rather than the cricket ground in Malahide were full.
One man who hadn’t left – and, indeed kept the crowd entertained throughout the day – was superfan Larry The Leprechaun.
The Australian, whose parents hail from Galway, has followed Ireland ever since their first appearance on the World stage in 2007 and he was never going to be anywhere else this occasion.
‘After watching the Ireland team develop over the years and their elevation to Test status it would have been rude for me not to be here today,’ the grinning man in the hat enthused, ‘and above all else, I’m just very proud of the boys who can now call themselves Test cricketers – and how happy I am for them.’
But the Irish weather was to have the final say yesterday as well, a downpour just after 5.30pm ending the day’s play but the weather has never put off Irish fans.
They will be back today when Ireland’s batsmen will get their first chance to score Test runs, weather permitting.