Less than two weeks after their emphatic World Cup triumph at Lord’s, the high-spirited England team suffered a big jolt when they took on newcomers Ireland in the historic first-ever Test between the two sides on Wednesday.  

The switch from being the 50-over-a-side world champions to the 5-day game resulted into a humiliating short-circuit for England as they were bundled out for an embarrassing 85 on the opening day at Lord’s, the historic ground where they lifted the coveted World Cup silverware, after edging out New Zealand via the boundary count-back rule on July 14. 

Under their Test captain Joe Root, the formidable England team in white flannels collapsed like a pack of cards in front of some fiery and accurate Irish bowling. In fact, it was England-born Ireland bowler Tim Murtagh, who caused a massive mayhem in the middle to cut short the 10-day-old euphoria for the limited over world champions. 

Firing on all cylinders from the word go, Murtagh grabbed five for 13 from nine overs as the home side could survive only 127 manic minutes and 23.4 overs in their shortest completed innings ever in terms of balls faced. 

Interestingly, Ireland, who made their Test debut earlier this year against Pakistan, choke-slammed their fancied rivals early in the day and passed England’s total before tea thanks to a steady partnership between Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie. 

However, the Irish side, playing only their third Test match, slumped from 132-2 to 149-7 after the English bowlers made a valiant comeback to bag a slew of wickets later in the day. Veteran Kevin O'Brien hung around for an unbeaten 28 and bgowling hero Murtagh chipped in with 16 to take the innings score to 207 all out, a 122-run innings lead, at stumps on the opening day.  

While talking to the reporters, the day’s hero Murtagh said, “Growing up as a kid I was dreaming of being on that honors board, just not from the away dressing room -- but I guess it makes it even more special.” Interestingly, the bowler, who was once overlooked for England's development squad, also mentioned, “Growing up as a kid I was dreaming of being on that honors board, just not from the away dressing room -- but I guess it makes it even more special.” 

Earlier, skipper Root won the toss and elected to bat, handing Test cap to debutant South Africa-born opener Jason Roy, who excelled with his batting during the recently-concluded World Cup. However, it turned out to be a bad day in the middle for Roy and other batsmen as 37-year-old Murtagh ran through the English batting to their lowest home total since scoring 77 against Australia in 1997. Incidentally, at one point in time, the hosts were reduced to 43 for 7 before the tail-enders used the long handle to save some more blushes. 

Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Vaughan branded England’s remarkable battling disaster as “embarrassing” and remarked, “There were some good balls but there was also some timid play and poor strokes. Let's be honest, it's an embarrassment -- you're at the home of cricket, in a test against Ireland and you're all out for 85, there is no other word to describe it.”