Bangladesh took a huge step towards their first Test series win with an innings victory over Ireland in the first Test of the two-match series at Dhaka. Ireland had a huge task in the two-match Test series. They came into the last day of play facing a historic 215-run deficit. Captain Andrew Balbirnie and his young side will have to regroup. Unfortunately, they need to do better, much better as the second game kicks off this Wednesday.
Ireland started the final day in a tough spot at 86-5 in their second innings. It would have been easy for the team to give up their battle after the day, especially when Andy McBrine provided some fight with his fifth Test half-century. It was McBrine’s performance that was absolutely key. He is Ireland’s highest Test wicket-taker and sits second on the men’s Test run-scorer list for the team behind only all-rounder Kevin O’Brien.
Balbirnie’s decision to drop down the order was taken to give his injured finger more time to heal after a painful bony protrusion emerged. He was finally dismissed lbw by debutant Hasan Murad, who was the standout player on his first appearance, taking 5-38. Batting McBrine and Balbirnie put on an impressive 66-run partnership. The bad news was that the rest of Ireland’s batting order crumbled around him and they were dismissed for 254 all out.
Even with the odd piece of individual brilliance, Balbirnie admitted that Bangladesh were better than them in all facets of the game. He stated, “Bangladesh were just better than us in every aspect of the game. They showed us how to get a big first innings score and we were always on the back foot.”
Andy McBrine expressed the need for improvement, saying, “What we wanted to do was fight for as long as possible and I thought we showed that in glimpses, but if we are going to compete a bit better, we are going to have to be better for longer.”
Ireland did well to fight back, especially with Matthew Humphreys, scoring 16 valuable runs before the collapse came. The playing group now need to focus on being more resilient in defence and sorting out the gaps that were exposed in this game.
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