World Champions England gets wake-up call from Ireland before Ashes

Match against Ireland is England’s last test before they head for Ashes against Australia from August 1

The whole world just started to sing along with the newly crowned world champions England when they thumped a historic win against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup 2019 on July 14. The Englishmen were right at the top of the world when the whole team stepped into the Lord's Cricket Stadium on July 24^th where they were to face the rookie Ireland. Jason Roy and Olly Stone were set to make their Test debuts against Ireland, everyone around the world knew the results already, but people were reminded that unpredictable things can happen! And there they were, the mighty World Champions England, ALL-OUT at just 85 in the first innings!

The celebrations for the first time World Cup lifter were not even over when Ireland gave them a big blow on the first day of the test match itself. After wrapping up with the one-day World Cup, England could not even post a three-figure score against a team who is playing its third test match ever.

Ireland's London-born seamer Tim Murtagh exposed the fragility of England's batting, taking five for 13 in nine superb overs on a pitch that, while offering some movement, should not have held terrors for a top nation.

England lasted 23.4 overs as they were bowled out before lunch on the first morning of a Lord's test for the first time. After the mayhem of the first day when England was skittled for 85 and 20 wickets fell, the World Cup champions appeared to have seized control when they reached 171 for one early on another sweltering afternoon. But they lost seven wickets for 77 runs as Ireland, playing their first test match against England, hit back with Mark Adair taking three wickets.

Rookies bring down experienced

To make it more embarrassing for the Englishmen, Ireland were playing just their third match since being given Test status in 2017. They have played two tests against Pakistan and Afghanistan that has ended in defeats. Ireland, who were not even a part of the 2019 World Cup, were strongly capable enough to tear down the England batting line-up on the first day of the Test itself.

Ireland has played 2007, 2011 and 2015 editions of the World Cup so far and didn't get qualified for 2019 World Cup as it lost to Afghanistan. England has experienced such kind of lowest score in a test match before at home against Australia in 1997 where they were dismissed for 77 and now this has happened for the second time.

But there is one more thing that everyone should notice here is that only four players who played the World Cup finals, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, and Chris Woakes were there on duty on Wednesday. Therefore, there's no one to blame too as the team that is playing against Ireland is completely inexperienced. But still, they are World Champions and no one expects this kind of show from champions.

Wake up call before Ashes

England's batting coach Graham Thorpe has expressed his concern over this situation as according to him, this is a wake-up call before the Ashes. Though the England team were in high-spirits to regain the Ashes from Australia, now it looks like the situation has completely turned upside-down, thanks to Ireland's strong show at Lord's. The Ireland match is England's last test before they head for Ashes against Australia from August 1 at Edgbaston.

But everyone is looking forward to the return of the masters at the time of Ashes and avoid the scores that were seen during England's first innings where the star players including Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes went for a duck. Therefore, the Ashes are going to be tough as the Englishmen are now having a worrisome situation in front of them. But as they say, failure makes you stronger, so this might be that push that England needs before the Ashes, but never expected this kind of a push from Ireland. Everything said and done, England will need to buckle up and move ahead with a solid plan to stay ahead in the race.

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