LONDON—On Day Two at Lord’s, England’s top order made their lead against Ireland even bigger. Ben Duckett scored a lot of runs in the morning, and Ollie Pope hit a quick double-century.
After Ireland declared soon after tea, they quickly lost PJ Moor and Andrew Balbirnie, dropping to 18-2 before James McCollum had to leave the field because he was hurt. Ireland got to 97-3 by the end of the game thanks to Lorcan Tucker and Harry Tector’s strong innings at the plate.
After England’s batters quickly made up the 20-run gap they had when the day started, they started to get ahead. Duckett got his first century at home in less than an hour. He did this by hitting a single past short midwicket and putting his fist in the air as he ran through. Three more balls and a single put Pope on fifty, and the lead was growing quickly.
The Irish bowlers kept up their hard work as the sun burned away the early morning cloud. As the break got closer, Duckett and Pope picked up the pace again. With ten minutes left in the session, Pope moved into the 90s. In the same over, Duckett got to 150 runs by hitting the ball into the leg side for two.
He hit Fionn Hand’s next ball over the ropes again, bringing the 200-run partnership to an end. England went into the break with a 153-run lead, having scored 173 runs in the session.
Pope got to 100 with a scampered single two overs after the game started again, and Duckett kept going after the other team. But when Hume was brought in to bowl, Duckett hit a thick inside edge that gave Hume his chance. Because his off stump was flattened, he had to leave at 182.
When Joe Root got to the middle, things calmed down for a while, but he and Pope soon raised the stakes again. He quickly went past 150, and his score with Root quickly got close to 100.
By tea time, Pope was only three runs away from reaching 200, and England’s lead had grown to 331. After the break, the game went on quickly. McBrine bowled Root with the third ball of the session. The ball came down the pitch and turned, which was enough to get Root out. Pope got to 200, but on the next ball, he also skipped down the wicket and missed. He was caught, and Tucker had plenty of time to take off the bails. The England manager decided that was enough and called back his batters with a lead of 352.
Ireland’s first two batters started out slowly, but Josh Tongue’s first ball shook things up. He got Moor out by giving him a leg before the wicket. This was his first test wicket after not getting any in the first test. Balbirnie under-edged through to Jonny Bairstow in the same over, giving Ireland an 18-2 score.
McCollum had to leave the field because he hurt his ankle when he turned to play a short ball from Tongue. This was another blow. When Paul Stirling got to the middle, he looked like he was in charge. He hit a couple of fours through the offside to get Ireland closer to fifty. He was Tongue’s third target of the night, and 45 minutes before the game was supposed to end, he gloved behind.
Tucker and Tector stayed in place to make sure that Ireland didn’t get hurt any more and to put some pressure back on England. Tector wasn’t willing to let Tongue’s short-ball plan go on without a reaction, so he hit the first-timer for six runs while each player hit three boundaries. When play starts again, they will be 255 runs behind and have seven wickets left.
MATCH SUMMARY
The only Test match between England and Ireland will be on June 2, 2023, at Lord’s.
Ireland: 172 runs (56.2 overs; James McCollum: 36, Curtis Campher: 33, Stuart Broad: 5–51).
England 524-4 dec (82.4 overs; Ollie Pope 205, Ben Duckett 182, Andy McBrine 2-99)
Ireland: 97-3 (26 overs; Harry Tector 33 not out, Lorcan Tucker 21 not out, Josh Tongue 3-27)
England is 255 runs ahead.
India
