Ireland fail to create history in maiden Test
15 May 2018 5:26 PM GMT
Dublin: Ireland became the 11th nation to play Test cricket when they played Pakistan at Dublin's Malahide at the Village in front of a near capacity crowd.
The five-day Test was reduced to four days after the first day was completely washed out. When the sun finally did shine, Ireland won the toss and opted to bowl.
After four interesting days of Test cricket which once again reinforced belief in the longest format, Pakistan emerged triumphant by five wickets. Despite the result, Ireland have made a convincing start and can go further in red ball cricket.
Pakistan had alarm bells ringing early on with Azhar Ali and Imam-ul-Haq walking back to single digits at The Village. Boyd Rankin with the milestone moment of becoming Ireland's first wicket-taker in Test cricket. Asad Shafiq (62) and Faheem Ashraf (83) solidified Pakistan's run tally later to take the visitors to 310/9 before they opted to declare under gloomy conditions and put Ireland under the pressure.
That strategy worked out perfectly and Ireland were in tatters at 7/4 before being bowled out for 130 runs thanks to Kevin O'Brien's pivotal 40 runs. The 180 run lead allowed Pakistan to enforce follow-on for the first time in 16 years.
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