A RECORD FOURTH-WICKET stand of 74, a maiden Test half-century from debutant Harry Tector and two late-in-the-day wickets helped Ireland grab the momentum – and a lead of 180 runs – heading into day two of the one-off Test match against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
Lorcan Tucker, Curtis Campher and Mark Adair also contributed with the bat as Ireland posted 214 from their first innings, while a wicket with the final ball of the day – from Andy McBrine – has ensured that Ireland go into Day Two in buoyant mood.
Tector was one of seven Ireland Test debutants, along with Murray Commins, Campher, Tucker, PJ Moor, Graham Hume, and Ben White.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, captain Andrew Balbirnie found himself in the middle in just the fifth over of the day, as Commins was trapped in front by a ball tailing in from Shoriful Islam. Commins’ opening partner James McCollum was also dismissed within the first 10 overs, edging a lifting delivery from Ebadot Hossain to slip, where it was taken after some brief juggling.
Together with Tector, Balbirnie saw off the rest of the Bangladesh seamers’ new ball burst, and the introduction of spin initially proved fruitful for the visitors. An on-drive for four off the left-arm spin of Taijul Islam accounted for Tector’s first Test runs, and the following over the 23-year-old lofted Mehidy Hasan Miraz back over his head for six.
Bangladesh’s spinners were not rattled by Tector’s stroke-making however, and Taijul removed Balbirnie with the score still on just 48. Encouraged to play the sweep shot by some aggressive field placements, the Ireland captain couldn’t quite get his pad outside the line of off-stump and departed as the second LBW victim of the innings.
Tector and Campher set about rebuilding, and reached lunch without further incident. The pair quickly added significantly to the score, with boundaries coming on a regular basis. They brought up the 50-run partnership from 80 balls, Ireland’s first half-century stand for the fourth wicket in Tests. The next three overs added a further 21 runs and saw Tector reach 50 in his maiden Test innings, the first player to do so for Ireland in men’s Tests.
The celebrations were short-lived though. Mehidy and Khaled Ahmed rebuilt the pressure that had been relieved with a couple of accurate overs, and Tector fell victim to the former as he tried to work a ball from outside off into the leg side. His 50 runs came off 92 balls, with six fours and one six.
With the breakthrough made, Taijul returned to the attack and in his first over removed PJ Moor thanks to a mis-hit shot taken at mid-off. The left-armer’s second over saw the back of Campher for 34, beaten on the inside edge by one that slid on with the arm, to leave Ireland stumbling having fallen from 122-3 to 124-6.
Lorcan Tucker set about rebuilding, first with McBrine and then Mark Adair after the Ireland spinner was bounced out by Ebadot for 19. With the score just one run shy of the 200-mark, Tucker fell for 37 as he looked to add to his three boundaries. His attempted sweep against Taijul saw him drag his back foot well outside of the crease, providing keeper Litton Das ample opportunity to complete a stumping.
Adair was pinned plumb in front not long after as Taijul completed his five-wicket haul, ending with figures of 5-58. Mehidy clean bowled Graham Hume less than an over later to end the Ireland innings on 214.
Bangladesh’s reply was dealt an early blow when Najmul Hossain Shanto was bowled off the inside edge by Adair from the fifth ball of the innings. Tamim Iqbal and Mominul Haque appeared to have survived the remaining over, but McBrine found enough turn and bounce with the final delivery of day one to take Tamim’s edge. The hosts will resume on 34-2 tomorrow at 10am local time, trailing by 180 runs.
MATCH SUMMARY
Bangladesh v Ireland, Test match Day 1, Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ireland 214 (77.2 overs; Harry Tector 50, Lorcan Tucker 37, Taijul Islam 5-58)
Bangladesh 34-2 (10 overs; Tamim Iqbal 21, Mominul Haque 12; Mark Adair 1-3)
Ireland lead by 180 runs
