 "Andy Balbirnie's unbeaten fifty steers Ireland towards historic victory in one-off Test against Afghanistan")
The Ireland cricket team pulled off a historic six-wicket victory over Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Friday, registering their first-ever win in Test cricket nearly six years after making their debut in the format and ending a streak of seven consecutive defeats in the process.
Andy Balbirnie produced a captain’s knock during his team’s chase of the modest 111-run target, producing an unbeaten 58 as the Irishmen recovered from an early wobble to go past the finish line in a canter in the final session on Day 3.
Ireland had played their first Test back in 2018 when they were defeated by Pakistan.
“We’re absolutely excited. We’ve created history. The monkey is off the back and it’s very special to do that,” said Balbirnie whose team were wobbling at 13-3 at one stage.
“Obviously there were nerves; we were chasing our first win. You ask this whole group how special this is. A lot of our guys didn’t get to play Test cricket. Hopefully people back home want to be Test cricketers.”
Afghanistan resumed their second innings Friday on 134-3 before they were dismissed for 218.
Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi top scored with 55 while Rahmanullah Gurbaz, making his Test debut, hit 46.
Mark Adair picked up three wickets to finish with eight for the match. Craig Young and Barry McCarthy also claimed three apiece.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsGurbaz, better known for his flamboyant and explosive shot-making in limited-overs cricket, clubbed the only two sixes of the innings.
Chasing just 111 for victory, Ireland were in trouble with three wickets down for just 13 runs with 18-year-old fast bowler Naveed Zadran clean-bowling opener Peter Moor and Curtis Campher, both without scoring.
Balbirnie denied the teenager a hat-trick but Harry Tector was soon caught behind by Gurbaz off Nijat Masood for two.
Balbirnie and Paul Stirling, who both played in Ireland’s debut Test in 2018, briefly steadied dressing room nerves.
Stirling was then caught in the slips off left-arm spinner Zia-ur-Rehman for 14 as Ireland slipped to 39-4 just after tea.
However, Balbirnie moved watchfully to his fourth Test half-century, which came from 86 balls, ably supported by Lorcan Tucker (27 not out) in a crucial winning partnership of 72.
“I think the first day, when we were batting, we let ourselves down,” said Shahidi.
“The Irish seamers were bowling very well but we threw our wickets away.”
He added: “We have some positives. Gurbaz was very positive on debut. Naveed had had a good Test against Sri Lanka, and in this match also he did very well.”
Irish fast bowler Adair said he was “buzzing” with the victory.
“Test cricket is pretty difficult. I think we’ve got a really good bowling group,” he said.
The two teams will now play three one-day internationals and three T20 games as part of their multi-format series.
With AFP inputs
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