England demolish Ireland but Joe Root slams ‘substandard’ Lord’s pitch

England's Chris Woakes, who took six for 17, appeals successfully to claim the wicket of Gary Wilson. Picture: Julian Finney/Getty

The visitors began the fourth innings of the inaugural meeting between the nations eyeing an upset for the ages – it was Ireland’s third game at this level and England’s 1,011th – yet they were mercilessly  dispatched by the new-ball pairing.

Woakes claimed a career-best haul of six for 17 and Broad took four for 19 at the other end as England wrapped up a 143-run win in a whirlwind passage of play comprising fewer than 16 overs. Ireland’s was the seventh lowest score of all time and their total of 94 balls at the crease was the joint second fastest completed innings on record.

Root, pictured, was pleased to emerge without a sizeable blemish against his side heading into next week’s Ashes opener at Edgbaston but, having seen his own team bundled out for 85 on the first morning, he was less than impressed by the surface. “I don’t like saying this but the wicket was substandard for a Test match,” he told Test Match Special.

He picked up the theme in his post-match press conference, adding: “I thought it was not even close to a fair contest between bat and ball throughout the whole game. First innings, last innings... when you are getting scores like that it tells a story in itself.

“There’s always different challenges to playing in England than anywhere else in the world: it does do a little bit more than most places, but it was extreme in this game. From a batting point of view it’s hard to take too much out of it on a surface like that.”

Just as England had only ten days between their dramatic World Cup final success and this Irish assignment, they once again have almost no time to process a remarkable sequence of events.

England’s Ashes squad announcement is planned for this morning before the old rivals renew their battle for the urn in Birmingham on Thursday and the events of recent days are sure to be on the minds of batsmen in both dressing rooms.

“Australia will be thinking, ‘it’s doing a bit in England’,” said Root with a smile. “It’s hard for anyone to read too much into these very extreme conditions but I’m sure the bowlers will like the look of the surfaces here and it’s bubbling up nicely for a very entertaining first game.”

Ireland captain William  Porterfield attempted to raise the spirits of a sombre dressing room by reminding his players how proud they should be of their efforts. “We’re pretty gutted. It’s a quiet changing room, but that is reflective of the position we put ourselves in throughout the game... we had the chance to win it,” said Porterfield.

“That shows you how much it hurts. But as much as  everyone is gutted in the changing room now, I would like everyone, before they leave here, to reflect on what has happened.

“It doesn’t happen every week, the position we got ourselves into. We can take a lot from that and look back and reflect and be disappointed.”