LONDON: Seamer Josh Tongue took five wickets to help England thrash Ireland by 10 wickets in the one-off Test at Lord’s on Saturday ahead of the Ashes series against Australia, but the visitors salvaged pride with a brave batting effort on the third day.

Having bowled out Ireland for 172 in their first innings, England effectively batted them out of the match when they declared on 524-4 with a massive lead of 352 runs after Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett made big centuries on Friday.

Resuming on 97-3, Harry Tector got Ireland off to a strong start, scoring 51 off 98 balls before holing out to point for debutant Ton­gue’s fourth wicket of the innings.

Lorcan Tucker and Curtis Campher also departed before lunch to leave Ireland reeling, a third successive innings defeat seemingly inevitable after two heavy losses to Sri Lanka in April.

Andy McBrine and Mark Adair launched an effective counter-attack, however, in a blistering seventh-wicket stand, scoring 163 runs off 165 balls — the highest-ever test partnership for Ireland.

Matthew Potts broke the stand when Adair, on 88, got the slightest of touches on a delivery as it flew through to wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow.

McBrine battled on after Fionn Hand became Tongue’s fifth scalp, scoring 86 not out as he dragged Ireland over the line and forced the hosts to bat again, albeit briefly.

Chasing a paltry target of 11, England opener Zak Crawley hit Adair for three boundaries in four balls to seal England’s 11th win in 13 tests.

England now shift focus to the Ashes series, which gets under way at Edgbaston on June 16, after Australia’s match against India in the world Test championship at the Oval from June 7.

SCOREBOARD

IRELAND (1st Innings) 172 (S. Broad 5-51, J. Leach 3-35)

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 524-4 decl (O. Pope 205, B. Duckett 182, Z. Crawley 56, J. Root 56)

IRELAND (2nd Innings, overnight 97-3):

P. Moor lbw b Tongue 11

J. McCollum ret hurt 12

A. Balbirnie c Bairstow b Tongue 2

H. Tector c Brook b Tongue 51

P. Stirling c Bairstow b Tongue 15

L. Tucker b Leach 44

C. Campher c Stokes b Root 19

A. McBrine not out 86

M. Adair c Bairstow b Potts 88

F. Hand c Crawley b Tongue 7

G. Hume b Broad 14

EXTRAS (LB-8, NB-5) 13

TOTAL (all out, 86.2 overs) 362

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Moor), 2-18 (Balbirnie), 3-63 (Stirling), 4-126 (Tucker), 5-162 (Tector), 6-162 (Campher), 7-325 (Adair), 8-340 (Hand), 9-362 (Hume)

BOWLING: Broad 14.2-62-1 (3nb); Potts 21-3-77-1; Tongue 21-2-66-5 (1nb); Leach 20-4-90-1 (1nb); Root 10-0-59-1

ENGLAND (2nd Innings):

Z. Crawley not out 12

B. Duckett not out 0

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for no wicket, 0.4 overs) 12

DID NOT BAT: O. Pope, J. Root, H. Brook, B. Stokes, J. Bairstow, S. Broad, M. Potts, J. Tongue, J. Leach

BOWLING: Adair 0.4-0-12-0

RESULT: England won the one-off Test by 10 wickets.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ollie Pope

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2023