Ireland’s second and final Test against Bangladesh was jolted by an unlikely interruption on Thursday as a 5.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Dhaka. A political earthquake hit while Ireland were batting at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. As the players remained on the field, play was temporarily stopped.
As the terrible earthquake shook for about three minutes, players and officials took their best judgment of the situation. Soon after, play was back on, giving Ireland the chance to chase down a mammoth target of 476 runs set by Bangladesh. Prior to the pause, the Irish had been on the back foot, having been bowled all out for 265 runs.
In the second innings, Lorcan Tucker provided a quality display of batting, scoring 75 to record his fourth Test fifty in style. Jordan Neill was a major player, scoring 49 runs before being caught out.
Even amid the commotion, on field captaincy debut for Bangladesh’s Najmul Hossain Shanto was an aggressive one. Instead, he decided against enforcing a follow-on, allowing Ireland a second innings after setting a mammoth lead of 367 runs. Shadman Islam wowed the audience with a sparkling 69-run exhibition. At the top of the order, Mahmudul Hasan Joy played a vital knock of 60 before being removed by Gavin Hoey.
Despite the often crazy and odd day, the teams played with grit. At the same time, Cricket Ireland expressed solidarity with those impacted by the earthquake.
“All involved in this game today are thinking of those affected by this event.” – Cricket Ireland
Heinrich Malan, head coach for Ireland, gave insight to the predicament of the earthquake.
“I’ve been involved in a couple of earthquakes from my time living in New Zealand. It’s never a nice feeling and you’re trying to understand what is happening in the moment around you, but also the bigger impacts about where the earthquake struck. Everything stood still for a couple of minutes and we got back to business, but we’re thinking of everyone and hoping there wasn’t too much damage done.” – Heinrich Malan
About 15 minutes into the match, Bangladesh took control of the match and never relented. They clung onto nine wickets and were used to a healthy lead over their opponents. The unexpected interruption served as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of life and sport. Players remained focused on the task at hand as they resumed play under challenging circumstances.
Leave a Reply