‘Broad be like – Asli cricket mei apka swagat hai’ – Fans react as Stuart Broad completes three-wicket haul in no time vs Ireland on Day 1

After two months of action in the sixteenth edition of the Indian Premier League, Cricket took a breath of fresh air with the return of Test Cricket in the English summer. England are taking on Ireland in a one-off test ahead of the real clash against the Aussies in the Ashes 2023. As such, Stuart Broad took away all the headlines in the first session with an exceptional three-wicket haul to rattle the Ireland top order.

Stuart Broad started with the wicket of Peter Moor in the 5^th over. And then, he returned in the 7^th over to deal a double blow getting rid of Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie and Harry Tector. Ireland then made a silent return with a decent partnership between opener James McCollum (29* off 93) and Paul Stirling (30 off 35), who was dismissed by Jack Leach. Replacing him at the crease is Lorcan Tucker (8* off 9) as Ireland moves into Lunch at 78/4 in 26 overs.

England are playing with just three pacers

On Thursday, England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bowl against Ireland in a four-day special test. Only three frontline quicks—including Josh Tongue, who is making his debut—have been chosen by England, while James Anderson and Ollie Robinson have been rested ahead of the Australia match at Edgbaston. When the Ashes were last played in England four years ago, Stokes was one of the top players. His magnificent unbeaten century helped the hosts to an unbelievable one-wicket victory at Headingley during a 2-2 series.

England and Ireland are facing off in Test cricket for just the second time despite having faced off a total of 16 times in other formats before. This game is being played at the Lord’s, the same as their first Test against them. Both of these games served as openers for England’s Ashes series, which is another significant commonality between the two contests.

But the first one hadn’t started the English summer, unlike their ongoing match in the same format. Despite having lost three times against Ireland over the years (including twice in their most recent two limited-overs games), England was able to defeat them by a score of 143 runs in their first Test.

Here’s how fans reacted: