Taijul, Miraz reduce Ireland to 145-6 at Tea

Bangladesh spinners snapped up three wickets in the post-lunch session to reduce Ireland to 145-6 in Day 1 of the lone Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday.

After a morning session where the pacers dominated, it was the spin duo of Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz that troubled the Irish batters, with the former striking twice and the latter taking one wicket.

However, on a pitch that has begun offering assistance to the spinners, skipper Shakib Al Hasan is yet to roll his arm over even though he is fit to bowl.

Harry Tector (50) and Curtis Campher (34) formed a 74-run stand for the fourth wicket for Ireland. But once that partnership ended, Ireland lost two more wickets in quick succession to return the control of the match to the hosts.

Lorcan Tucker and Andy McBrine are batting on 11 and 10 respectively.

Ireland began the second session on 65-3, with Tector and campher unbeaten on 18 and nine respectively.

The Irish debutants looked good after the break, taking Ireland across the 100-run mark.

Tector completed his half-century off 80 balls in the 39th over, becoming the first Irish cricketer to score a half-century on Test debut.

But Tector couldn’t add any more to his tally as he misjudged a Miraz delivery and ended up playing it on.

After Tector departed, Ireland lost two more wickets for two runs. Peter Moor (one) got caught and Campher was trapped leg-before wicket with both wickets falling to Taijul.

Tucker and McBrine then formed an unbeaten 21-run stand to take Ireland to the Tea break without any further damage.