Murtagh reflects on a special day that became routine
It has been a long wait, and it was delayed by an extra day thanks to the vagaries of Irish weather, but Ireland finally got their Test match history underway against Pakistan. Tim Murtagh, a hugely experienced 36-year-old making his Test debut, said that finally playing in this format for his country was a special feeling and that getting his cap was an emotional moment for him and his team.
“It was really special. It is the sort of thing that I hadn’t thought much about before, but all the families were there in the background. I think a couple of boys did get a bit emotional, a sort of spine-tingling moment. We hadn’t really thought how special it would be until we did get the cap this morning. It was a nice occasion and nice to share it with the families.”
Asked if he had a tear in his eye, he said that he didn’t, but he did notice that some his teammates kept their sunglasses on during the cap presentations.
“Not quite from myself, but I think there a couple of guys that kept their sunglasses on in case there was a couple rolling down. It was a really nice occasion, but it was important that we put that behind us and got rid of that emotion and got on with the cricket.
When the cricket did get underway Ireland started brilliantly, claiming two early wickets in the space of two balls, and nearly having a third in three balls with a run out that was narrowly missed. Murtagh says that would have been the perfect beginning.
“That would have been the dream start. It was nice to get those two out early, I thought Boyd [Rankin] was exceptional for us all day, he kept running in for us. We spilled a couple of chances towards the end there, if we had taken one of those and got another one 250-odd for eight looks different. It’s a shame, but we will rest up and come hard again in the morning.”
Speaking of the 109-run partnership between Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf, Murtagh expressed his frustration that Pakistan came back into the game. That stand saw Pakistan recover from 159/6 to 268/6.
“It is a bit of a disappointment as we got the ball swinging for the majority of the day. It is shame that the partnership at the end has taken it a little bit away from us. Probably a lack of cricket for the whole squad, a bit of tiredness in the legs towards the end there, perhaps has taken its toll a little bit. But we are up to the new ball pretty much straight away in the morning. We can hope we can nip out these last four wickets quite quickly.”
Murtagh claimed the second wicket of the day, his first in Test cricket, but he joked that he was disappointed that Rankin got the first Irish Test wicket.
“It was great. A magic feeling. A big roar. I was disappointed Boyd got the first one, I had that chalked down for myself. I was happy that he got that and then to get the next one, next ball straight away was a really special feeling.”
In the end, Murtagh says that it became another game of cricket despite being such a historical moment for his country.
"At the start it [felt special], that first wicket did, then you settle into a rhythm. A lot of us have played a lot of cricket and we had to treat it like any other first-class game that we have played. The fact it is a four-day game now, which is the same as we have been playing, helped that a little bit. I think everyone settled into it pretty well after that.”