England’s worst collapse at home
23.4 – Overs in which England were bowled out against Ireland. It is their shortest Test innings ever at home, about 21% shorter than the 30 overs they lasted against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1955. Overall, this is their fifth-shortest completed innings ever in Tests. The last time they lasted fewer overs was against New Zealand in Auckland last year, when they were bowled out in 20.4 overs.
England’s worst collapse at home
4 – Number of times England have lost 10 wickets in a session in the last three years: the three previous instances were against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2016, against New Zealand in Auckland and against India at Trent Bridge, both in 2018.
13 – Runs conceded by Tim Murtagh in his five-wicket haul; only once has any bowler conceded fewer runs while taking five or more wickets in an innings against England: Jerome Taylor took 5 for 11 in Kingston in 2009. In England, the previous lowest was 15 runs, by Dennis Lillee at Edgbaston in 1975.
2 – Runs contributed by England’s middle order (Nos. 4-7) in their total of 85. It’s the joint-lowest contribution ever by their middle order, equaling their dismal show in that Auckland innings against New Zealand in 2018. In fact, there have only been five instances in Test history, of the four batsmen in the middle order scoring fewer than three runs; three of those have happened in the last 16 months.
Graham Thorpe admitted there were “no real excuses” for England’s poor performance with the bat at Lord’s but suggested the experience could prove just “the jolt” required to focus minds ahead of the Ashes.
England’s first innings amounted to just 85. It was the first time they had been bowled out before lunch on the first day of a Lord’s Test and the shortest innings, in terms of balls received, in their history of home Tests. It was also the fourth time in three years they had lost 10 wickets within a single session; a phenomenon that was almost unheard of until 2016.
But while Thorpe, England’s batting coach, accepted the World Cup campaign – which finished little more than a week ago – had taken a toll on players both physically and mentally, he defended the decision to pick members of the limited-overs squad for this match. The five players from England’s World Cup squad involved here contributed seven runs between them and were also responsible for at least one dropped chance. The first Ashes Test begins at Edgbaston on August 1.
“We can’t run away from today’s performance,” Thorpe said. “And we can’t make excuses. There are no real excuses for us being bowled out for 85 against Ireland. It’s been a bad day. I’m very surprised and disappointed.
