Ireland was bowled out for 214 in the opening innings of the one-off Test in Dhaka, as Bangladesh dominated Ireland’s first day back in Test cricket. The six-man bowling attack maintained their lead in most circumstances as Taijul Islam recorded his eleventh five-wicket haul.
With Tamim Iqbal and Mominul Haque falling to Andy McBrine off the final ball of the day, the home team’s score at the end of the day was 34 for 2. Tamim Iqbal had been playing with a lot of confidence for the previous 30 minutes.
However, McBrine managed to get one to kick against Tamim’s forward rush, take the edge, and fly to the second slip where Mark Adair caught the ball.
Najmul Hossain Shanto had been struck by an inside edge ball that went on to the stumps earlier in the first over when he was bowled by him. With the big wicket on a challenging day overall, the Irish players were cockahoop.
Ireland batted out all but 30 minutes of the first day’s action and scored 214, their highest first-innings total in Test matches. It wasn’t a bad effort given the difficult conditions at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, especially with a batting lineup that included six debutants and was playing a Test after four years.
There were some great shots in Harry Tector’s fifty, especially his drives down the ground. He also hit a straight six, but he was out too soon after helping Curtis Campher and himself score 74 runs for the fourth wicket.
The two played several outstanding strokes in the first hour of the second session, making it the highlight of the Ireland innings. At this point, Ireland was at its most relaxed, but it took the visitors only an hour before things began to get worse.
Although Ireland lost three wickets in the opening session, they got together. Murray Commins was dismissed by Shoriful Islam for five runs after receiving a delivery that cut back into his bat. As James McCollum edged Ebadot Hossain, Shanto successfully caught him at the second slip on his second attempt.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled Tector with a beautiful off-break turning through his forward press, ending the Tector-Campher partnership. Tector scored 50 runs off 92 balls, including six fours and a six.
Ireland’s loss of PJ Moor, who was playing his debut Test for Ireland after competing in eight games for Zimbabwe, and Campher inside the span of 18 balls came at a poor moment for them.
At 124 for 6, Ireland should have given up quickly, but they scored another 90 runs for the final four wickets.
First partnering McBrine for 35 runs to take the seventh wicket, Tucker then added 40 runs with Mark Adair, who scored 32 runs off 52 balls. To complete his five-for, Taijul eliminated Tucker and Adair. In the 78th over, Mehidy took the wicket of Ben White to end the innings.