It’s been almost seven years since the Irish national cricket team played its first Test Match. Ireland welcomed Pakistan to Malahide, Dublin, for their inaugural five-day match. It’s fair to say the Irish team were given something of a baptism of fire, having been forced to follow-on. Pakistan knocked off the 160 needed for victory with five wickets to spare.
Ireland then locked horns with Afghanistan in India, where leg spin sensation Rashid Khan had the Irish in a spin, taking all seven wickets in a seven-wicket win for the Afghans.
In 2019, an historic one-off Test Match against England was scheduled at Lord’s. Remarkably, Ireland bowled England out for a meagre 85, thanks to some exceptional right-arm bowling from Tim Murtagh and co. However, Ireland were bowled out for just 38 in their second innings, chasing 182 for victory.
After a one-off Test Match defeat to Bangladesh, Ireland then lost their first two-game Test series to Sri Lanka in 2023, followed by another defeat in the same year to England, again at Lord’s. Since then, the penny looks to have dropped for the Irish.
Ireland are unbeaten in their last three Test matches
Ireland’s chastening ten-wicket loss to England at Lord’s was followed by a Test Match with Afghanistan at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi, UAE. After bowling Afghanistan out for just 155, they followed that up with 263 in their first innings. The Afghans were bowled out relatively cheaply a second time thanks to Mark Adair and Craig Young, leaving the Irish 111 for victory, which they achieved with six wickets in hand.
This was their first ever Test win, with Andy Balbirnie, one of the bedrocks of the Irish national team, scoring 58 not out to haul Ireland over the finish line.
Five months later, Zimbabwe travelled to Belfast for a ‘tour’ of Ireland in a one-off Test Match. Despite the best efforts of Prince Masvaure, who hit 74 from 152 balls, Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 210 in their first innings. Ireland eked out a 40-run lead after their first innings, with Zimbabwe once again hamstrung by Andy McBrine in
their second innings. The visitors were bowled out for 197, with McBrine ending the match with a seven-wicket haul.
McBrine also helped himself to a half-century in the run chase, steering the hosts home by four wickets after an engaging three-and-a-half days of Test Match cricket.
Ireland’s most recent game saw them lock horns with Zimbabwe again, this time in the Zimbabwean capital, Bulawayo. This contest was nip-and-tuck, with Zimbabwe holding a seven-run lead going into the second innings. It was Ireland’s second innings which ultimately tipped the scales in their favour. A fifth Test Match fifty for Andy Balbirnie, as well as a half-century for Lorcan Tucker, set Zimbabwe 292 runs to win.
The target proved a bridge too far for Zimbabwe, with Matthew Humphreys’ six-wicket haul contributing to Ireland spinning the hosts out for 228 to bag a 63-run win.
After their recent Test success in Zimbabwe, Ireland embarked on a three-match one-day international (ODI) series against the Zimbabweans, followed by a pair of Twenty20 (T20) internationals. The series has been covered with odds for cricket betting at Wildz, which had the Irish priced as 1.87 pre-game favourites ahead of the first ODI clash, which ultimately ended in a victory for Ireland with eight balls to spare.
What does the future hold for Ireland’s Test Match team?
As for Ireland’s Test Match status, they are comfortably ahead of Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in the ICC’s Men’s Test Match rankings. However, they sit 1,703 points behind ninth-placed Bangladesh, just by virtue of the 23 more Test matches played by the Bangladeshis.
With no sign of the likes of Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe being embraced into the World Test Championship, it’s difficult to know how much further Ireland can take their Test Match team.
In a recent interview, Andy Balbirnie said that Associate Nations like Ireland should have a place in Test cricket. It took Bangladesh, the latest nation to be awarded Full Test status, 34 Test matches before they won their first game. Their exposure to playing bigger and better teams has brought their squad on immeasurably. Balbirnie and the rest of Ireland’s selectors are adamant that this would have the same effect for the Irish in the coming years.
