Ireland: Patience pays off as Ireland cruise through Test with victory over Afghanistan

When Ireland entered the Test arena on that spring day six years ago, the omens were not good.

As I walked to the grounds in picturesque Malahide Village, just north of Dublin, the sky was filled with cricket's mortal enemy, those terrifying steel gray clouds that bring nothing but misery.

It started to rain. We were sitting in the press box twiddling our thumbs. Players from Ireland and Pakistan occasionally looked up anxiously at the sky, searching for slivers of blue, and some spectators could be seen crouching beneath brolly in the makeshift stands.

As the rain continued to fall, puddles littered the outfield, and the opening day was canceled to the frustration of everyone, including the burger and snack vendors who were hoping for a windfall.

The deluge of parties was unsurprising in a country lucky enough to enjoy a few dry days on the trot, but Cricket Ireland fought long and hard for Test status, finally gaining its status in 2017. Achieved full member status.

Ireland's entry into the sporting elite was greeted with much fanfare, but progress has been slow with only eight Tests held since 2018.

Financial constraints and associated weather concerns have left Cricket Ireland scrambling to win T20s and ODIs over a format that is in decline, being inexorably eroded by the growing popularity and dominance of the white ball game. ing.

Pakistan defeated Ireland in its first Test match, and the novice team suffered six further defeats before achieving a breakthrough success with a six-wicket win against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

It's always going to be a long journey for a team that only wears Los Blancos once in a while and struggles to adapt to the demanding qualities needed to be competitive in five days.

Ireland had a shock victory over England at Lord's in 2019, needing 182 runs in two innings to secure a decisive victory, but that didn't happen as they ran away with just 38 runs.

Patience has become a watchword for the Irish side after every defeat, and the history of Test cricket shows how long it takes to rack up your first win.

It's hard to believe that New Zealand had to wait all 45 games to taste victory, while it took powerhouse India 24 and South Africa 12.

It wasn't bad at all for Ireland, even though their first win was against a team that was also new to the Test ranks.

Ireland, renowned as a short-form giant killer for the past 20 years, has finally managed to hit the big time.

Afghanistan had set a victory target of 111 and although Ireland were struggling with 39 wins and four losses, captain Andrew Balbirnie led the tourists home with an unbeaten 58 wins.

It's fitting that a player who has been through the ups and downs of Irish cricket for so long should have made such a decisive impact, and he hopes it will be an emotional victory.

“There's a lot of talk in world cricket at the moment about the relevance of Test cricket, but if you ask this group how special this is, it's just that,” he said.

“I think this is much bigger than cricket. Hopefully we can inspire some guys back home to become Test match cricketers and hopefully back them up.”

“You have to see how busy the schedule is because there's a lot of cricket going on. I'm not going to play 10-15 Tests a year, but that's fine.

“But when we get that opportunity, we're going to do everything we can to produce results and make history. We've achieved that now and got the monkey off our backs – being part of the group. It's very special to do that. ”