Test Cricket: Murtagh grabs 5 as Ireland bowl England out for 85 runs
London, July 24: Ireland, led by Tim Murtagh's maiden five-for, stunned the cricketing world as England was bowled out for a paltry 85 in the first innings of the only Test match here at Lord's, where a little more than a week ago, the hosts lifted the 50-over World Cup.
London-born pacer Murtagh, 37, returned spectacular figures of 5/13 in nine overs as Mark Adair (3/32) and Boyd Rankin (2/5), who became the first player in over seven decades to play Test cricket for and against England, supported him well.
This was Murtagh''s 14th first-class five-for at Lord's - but the first to get him on the honours board.
For England, who won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket which had carry and seam movement, Joe Denly top-scored with 23 while 25-year old fast bowler Olly Stone played an entertaining 18-ball 19, his cameo laced with four good looking boundaries.
England, who got past New Zealand on more number of boundaries hit in the rip-roaring final on July 14 where both the match and the Super Over ended in ties, had five World Cup winners in their ranks.
But together, all of them failed collectively as the Irish ran riot at lunch on Day 1 of the four-day affair.
Ireland were at it from the word go with Adair having debutant Jason Roy plumb in front in the second over itself, only for the umpire to call it a no ball.
Roy, who had a brilliant World Cup, could not make the most of the reprieve, getting caught by Paul Stirling at first slip off Murtagh for 5.
Joe Denly looked good for his 23 off 28 balls (4x4) but Adair trapped him in front with a delivery that shaped back beautifully into his pads on a tight line.
Rory Burns (6) was caught behind by wicketkeeper Gary Wilson off Murtagh and England could never recover from there with skipper Joe Root falling for just 2, lbw by Adair.
The five World Cup winners in the England team managed just seven runs among them as Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes all failed to trouble the scorers.
Ali''s wicket was Murtagh's fifer as he and his Ireland teammates rejoiced their finest day yet in Test cricket. Sam Curran scored a quickfire 18 before Rankin got his back. In the end, Jack Leach remained not out on 1 as veteran pacer Stuart Broad (3) also failed to make the most of his batting skills.
Brief scores: England 1st innings 85 all out in 23.4 overs; Joe Denly 23, Tim Murtagh 5/13, Mark Adair 3/32) vs Ireland.
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Indian mobile hospital treats over 2,200 cyclone-hit people as New Delhi ramps up relief efforts in
Colombo (PTI): A mobile hospital set up by India in Sri Lanka has provided medical care to over 2,200 people affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as New Delhi ramped up its assistance to the flood-ravaged island nation with engineering support and delivery of fresh relief consignments, the Indian mission here said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse triggered by the cyclone, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity.
At least 627 people have been killed and 190 remain missing as of Sunday noon due to catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.
Sharing a social media post by the Ministry of External Affairs on its X handle, the Indian High Commission said a field hospital set up by India in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy has provided medical care to more than 2,200 people affected by the cyclone since December 5.
The hospital has also performed 67 minor procedures and three surgeries, it said. The field hospital was airlifted to Sri Lanka by an IAF C-17 aircraft along with a 78-member Indian medical team on Tuesday.
In another post, the mission said Indian Army engineers, working with Sri Lanka Army Engineers and the Road Development Authority, in Kilinochchi have begun removing a damaged bridge on the Paranthan–Karachchi–Mullaitivu (A35) road, a key route disrupted by the cyclone.
"This joint effort marks another step toward restoring vital connectivity for affected communities," it said.
India has additionally sent nearly 1,000 tonnes of food items and clothing contributed by the people of Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 300 tonnes reached Colombo on Sunday morning aboard three Indian Naval ships.
High Commissioner Santosh Jha handed over the supplies to Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe.
India, on November 28, launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to aid Sri Lanka in its recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Since the launch of the operation, India has provided about 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential cloths, water purification kits and about 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment, the Indian mission said in a press release on Sunday.
Another 60 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, Outboard Motors, and excavators, have also been brought to Sri Lanka, it said, adding that 185 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units were airlifted to restore critical connectivity along with 44 engineers.
Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force, comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, assisted with immediate rescue and relief efforts in Sri Lanka.
Besides the field hospital in Mahiyanganaya, medical centres have also been set up in the badly hit Ja-Ela region and in Negombo. INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri, and INS Sukanya provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka.
Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift, MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material, the release said.
At the request of the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, a virtual meeting was organised between DMC and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s National Remote Sensing Centre on Saturday.
Since the onset of the disaster, ISRO has been providing maps to assist DMC in its rescue efforts, the release said.
