England v Ireland Test match: day one – as it happened

Right, that’s enough from me, with a report from Ali Martin on its way. The summer has officially begun!

Josh Tongue speaks to Sky after his first day as a Test cricketer, clearly pretty chuffed about, well, being a Test cricketer. Thought he bowled well, at a decent lick, with Stokes using him as the short-ball enforcer. That first wicket will be in soon.

Tough ol’ day for Ireland. Stuart Broad collected five wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 172, but the real punishment came with England’s batting. Crawley and Duckett tucked in right from the start, collecting regular boundaries as both celebrated reaching fifty. Crawley’s took just 39 balls, Duckett’s 53. Pope has rattled off some serene strokes and will look to join the 50 club tomorrow morning.

25th over: England 152-1 (Duckett 60, Pope 29) Campher goes up again for an lbw against Pope, but again it’s nothing more. England’s No.3 then dabs behind square on the off side to move England past 150. Pope then edges one… but the ball drops just short of Paul Stirling at first slip. Let-off for the batter. And that’s a wrap for the day – England trail by just 20. A wonderful opening day of the summer for the hosts.

24th over: England 149-1 (Pope 27, Duckett 60) Hume seems to be finding something close to resembling control from the Nursery End, but even then England are still able to rotate the strike, nicking four off the over.

23rd over: England 145-1 (Duckett 57, Pope 26) An lbw shout from Campher as he nips one back into Pope, but it’s nothing more.

22nd over: England 140-1 (Duckett 54, Pope 24) Hume gets some decent shape away from Pope, injecting a brief moment of jeopardy into the innings. A better over for Ireland, just one coming off it.

21st over: England 139-1 (Duckett 53, Pope 24) Curtis Campher is on for a trundle and Pope moves to 20 off 15 balls with a flowing cover drive. He’s hitting them sweet and easy. Campher then gifts a full toss that Pope puts away for yet another boundary. We’ve had 24 boundaries so far in this innings!

20th over: England 126-1 (Duckett 52, Pope 16) Pope guides Adair to the third-man boundary for four, and he closes the over with a pull for another boundary.

19th over: England 117-1 (Pope 8, Duckett 51) Pope clips Hand through midwicket for a couple to get his innings going. But a drive through the covers for four is what gets him really going. Shot. A fancy little leave from Pope follows, a bit like Steve Smith’s lightsaber move from the ‘19 Ashes.

“I guess you could say that that catch went straight to Hand?” writes Richard O’Hagan. Nice.

Meanwhile showbizguru, who destroyed my trust a few overs ago, has admitted to the crime. Here’s the original piece.

18th over: England 109-1 (Pope 0, Duckett 51) A maiden!

17th over: England 109-1 (Duckett 51, Pope 0) Crawley had some good fortune in that knock, but it was plenty of fun, too. Now comes England’s new vice-captain, Ollie Pope.

Hand gets his first Test wicket! Crawley drives straight back at the bowler who juggles away before snatching it with one hand. A rollicking opening stand comes to an end.

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16th over: England 109-0 (Crawley 56, Duckett 51) Crawley drives through the covers for four to bring up his half-century, just a couple of balls after Duckett got there himself. Crawley delivers another sumptuous boundary shot a couple of deliveries later – England have rattled past 100 inside 16 overs.

15th over: England 97-0 (Duckett 48, Crawley 47) Duckett collects another boundary and Crawley another inside-edge for four!

Nooooooo, Showbizguru, I trusted youuuuuuuuuuu:

14th over: England 88-0 (Duckett 43, Crawley 43) Crawley has luck on his side, two inside-edges off Adair running away for four. You do need that when you’re gonna play your shots.

Here’s this from Andrew Benton: “How about Brian Brain, who played for Glos and Worcs in the 60s and 70s and who must be one of very few cricketers who’s first and surnames are anagrams of each other?”

Right-armer who took 824 first-class wickets at 24.5, Cricinfo tells me. Very much hope he bowled wheels and was called BB gun.

13th over: England 74-0 (Crawley 29, Duckett 43) A couple of twos for Duckett as he keeps ticking over.

“Some credit to Crawley here,” writes Richard O’Hagan. “He’s on a hiding to nothing, with people saying he shouldn’t be in the team and playing against such an inexperienced attack. He could’ve gone into his shell and just nurdled the ball around to make sure he got a score, but he’s taken the first ball, attacked from the off and already boosted his average.”

While most of you can’t get past making Willey jokes, this is some effort from Showbizguru:

“Anatomical XI (in batting order): Henry Hand, Michael Chin, Travis Head (wk), Miriam Knee, John Kidney, Archibald Palm, William Back, Don Beard, David Brain, Josh Tongue, Barry Tooth. Team umpire: Darrell Hair.”

12th over: England 70-0 (Duckett 39, Crawley 29) Crawley and Duckett seem to be calming down just a touch. Time for a few drinks.

“Hate to lower the tone but does David Willey count?” C’mon Max, you’re better than this.

11th over: England 69-0 (Duckett 38, Crawley 29) Better from Hand as Duckett and Crawley rotate the strike to pick up four from the over.

The emails are coming through and, yep, the body-parts game has descended into some Year 6 playground chat. C’mon people, let’s keep it clean and not get me in trouble. Pretty please.

10th over: England 65-0 (Crawley 28, Duckett 35) For the first time in the innings, an over passes by without a boundary.

Hand, Tongue, Head. Keep them coming, folks.

9th over: England 63-0 (Duckett 33, Crawley 28) Hand is too full and Crawley plays a luscious cover drive for four. Then a drive through point for four that is somehow even prettier. Tough start this for Hand, the youngster still trying to find the right spot to bowl at.

8th over: England 55-0 (Crawley 20, Duckett 33) England move past 50 as Duckett plays his signature cut shot once again. Four more.

“I’m also wondering,” writes Kim Thonger, “historically, how many first class cricketers have been named after body parts? We have Hand and Tongue in this match, for example. I think we must confine this game to surnames or some bright spark will start shortening Richard and we’ll be in all sorts.”

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7th over: England 49-0 (Duckett 28, Crawley 20) Fionn Hand gets a go and his first ball in Test cricket is a beaut, nipping away from the prodding Duckett. He’s too short with his next ball though, and Duckett cuts away through point to move into the twenties. Then too straight from Hand as Duckett whips the ball off his pads to the fine-leg boundary. The Notts southpaw has six boundaries and we’re only seven overs in.

6th over: England 40-0 (Crawley 20, Duckett 19) Big lbw shout from Hume as he brings one into Duckett, who unsuccessfully tries to cut the ball. That looked a real good shout, but looks like there was an inside edge on it. Hume is then too straight to Crawley, who flicks away for four. Lovely stroke.

“I’m just wondering how many overs there are to go in this Powerplay?” asks Richard O’Hagan. England are racing.

5th over: England 33-0 (Duckett 16, Crawley 16) Crawley picks up three twos as Adair bowls too straight. The seamer then finds the right-hander’s edge, but the ball runs away to the third-man boundary for four.

Kim Thonger, here, trying hard not to look too far ahead…

“At the risk of jinxing the whole shebang, tactically, do we think Stokes should declare at 600 tomorrow teatime, or bat on into the evening session and let Harry Brook reach his undefeated triple century?”

4th over: England 23-0 (Crawley 6, Duckett 16) Duckett’s boundary count continues to rise as he cuts through the off side off Hume. After debuting in Tests back in 2016, this is Duckett’s first game at home – and he’s having some fun.

3rd over: England 18-0 (Crawley 5, Duckett 12) Duckett cuts hard but can only smash it straight to the man at backward point. Ooooh, well this is lovely from the lefty – he punches the ball to the right of midwicket to find four. He then hits through the same area the next ball, this time it’s a pull shot, and it’s four more. 18 off the first three – don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it….. Bazzzzzzballllllll.

2nd over: England 8-0 (Crawley 4, Duckett 4) Graham Hume, the most experienced first-class cricketer in this Ireland side, takes the ball from the Nursery End and shapes the ball back into the left-handed Duckett. He’s too straight with his third delivery, which Duckett clips perfectly through the leg side for four.

1st over: England 4-0 (Duckett 0, Crawley 4) Adair is too short and wide with his second delivery and Crawley cuts away with ease to bring up England’s first runs of the summer.

Right then, Mark Adair to open up with the ball. Zak Crawley takes strike…

Brian Withington writes in: ‘Can you confirm whether the stump microphone picked up any English exhortations along the lines of “Mind the windows, Curtis” to further explain Campher’s ill-fated charge to Jack Leach? A good effort, though.’

That would’ve been a good line, alas, not sure anyone got there. In case you’re lost to the reference – here’s that special moment from way back when.

That’s it: Potts jags one in to get the inside edge of Hand, and Bairstow takes a good catch to his left to end the innings. Stuart Broad, the eternal warrior, walks off to the adulation of HQ, his figures 17-5-51-5. Leach picked up 3-35, Potts took two, and Tongue, while wicketless, has something about him.

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56th over: Ireland 172-9 (Hand 1, Hume 0) He played well there, did Curtis Campher, but he was running out of partners and needed to try and smack a few. Still, not the prettiest the way to go.