The day before the start of play they were still putting the finishing touches to Test cricket’s newest venue, the modest, pretty little ground at Malahide. So over the top of the pick-pack-pock-puck of the practising batsmen there was the sound of workmen hammering and drilling, fixing loudspeakers on the scaffold grandstands and new hoardings around the impermanent pavilion. Down the road a man was putting a fresh coat of paint on the railings by the station. The Irish have been waiting, working, a long time for this first Test match and want everything to go just so.
“It’s been quite a while building up to this since it was announced,” said Ireland’s captain, William Porterfield. “I am sure there will be a lot of different emotions that will flow through everyone in the next 24 hours.” Mainly excitement, he said, but some anxiety, too. The pitch is green, the forecast awful and Pakistan have a formidable attack. Ireland aren’t short of first-class experience – they’ve more of that than this callow Pakistan side – but Boyd Rankin is the only man among them who has ever played a Test.
Written by Andy Bull in Malahide
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/may/10/ireland-pakistan-first-test-match under the title “Ireland savour their first big Test as Pakistan arrive for historic encounter”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
