Abu Dhabi, News Agency: March 1 was a memorable day for Ireland in their cricketing history. Ireland won the one-match Test series against Afghanistan by 6 wickets in Abu Dhabi, with captain Andrew Balburnie playing a key role in chasing down the target and securing victory. This is Ireland's first win in Test cricket. Earlier the team has played 7 Test matches and they have faced defeat in all those matches.
Afghanistan scored 155 runs in 54.5 overs on the strength of Ibrahim Zadran's half-century while batting first in this match. In reply, the Irish scored 263 off Stirling in 83.4 overs. Then in the second innings, 218 runs were scored in 75.4 overs. After this, the Irish team scored 111 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 31.3 overs to seal the victory.
Chasing 111 runs in this match against Afghanistan, the Irish team once lost 3 wickets for 13 runs. From here, captain Andrew Balbirnie took charge of the innings from one side and first put on a 26-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Paul Stirling. Lorcan then put on a match-winning partnership of 72 runs for the fifth wicket with Tucker to give the team a historic 6-wicket win. The Irish captain scored an unbeaten 58 off 96 balls in this innings. The Ireland team is not part of the World Test Championship.
Mark Adair's maximum in bowling (Afghanistan vs Ireland)
The match witnessed a brilliant performance by the bowlers of the Ireland team, with fast bowler Mark Adair taking 5 wickets in the first innings. At the same time, he was successful in taking 3 wickets in the second innings as well. The biggest reason for the defeat of the Afghanistan team in this match was the very poor performance of the batsmen in both the innings. In this match, the Afghanistan team could score only 155 runs in the first innings, but could reach 218 runs in the second innings.
