Ireland bowlers toiled hard at the Lord’s on Day 2 of the only Test as England batters piled on runs at a record-breaking rate. On Day 3, Ireland feared losing the Test by an innings as they lost their sixth wicket for 162. But Mark Adair took the ‘Bazball’ approach against Ben Stokes-led side and scored a quickfire 76-ball 88 to help the visitors avoid innings defeat.
New to the crease, Adair launched the attack against Joe Root hitting him for a six and a four. After few quiet overs, he took on Root again hitting him for a six and two fours in an over. As a result, Root was taken off the attack.
Adair reached his half-century from 47 balls. He hit three consecutive fours off Stuart Broad's over. The veteran English bowler had taken a fifer in the first innings. Adair continued to attack and had help from Andy McBrine at the other end as well. At last, Matthew Potts got the breakthrough. Adair tried to play the upper cut but barely had enough bat on it and got caught by wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
Adair missed out on a well-deserved ton. His 76-ball 88 was studded with 12 fours and two sixes. He shared a 163-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Brine. This is the highest partnership for any wicket by an Ireland pair in Test cricket. The previous record belonged to Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling who shared an unbeaten 115-run partnership against Sri Lanka few months ago.
McBrine remained not out for 86 off 115 balls as he ran out of partners. Ireland posted 362/9 as opener James McCollum got retired hurt on Day 2. England needed 11 runs to win and Zak Crawley finished it from just four balls with three boundaries to help his side win by 10 wickets.
Adair also missed out on becoming the sixth no.9 batter to score a Test century against England. Only one visiting batter had scored a century at this position against England on England soil. Asif Iqbal scored 146 against England at the Oval in 1967.
Adair's 88-run knock is the sixth-highest score by a batter at no.9 against England at any venue.
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