Ireland vs Pakistan 2018, Only Test – Statistical Preview

History will be made at Malahide when Ireland faces Pakistan on Friday and become the 11th country to feature in Test cricket. This match will also end the long wait of the Irish players who have been toiling hard in county cricket for decades to achieve their dream of playing Test matches. Pakistan will be taking on the experienced bunch of debutants with a team that has a few new faces. This match will also serve as much needed experience for the Asian team before the 2-match Test series against  England.

Key stats and numbers that matter ahead of Ireland’s Test debut against Pakistan:

5 – The Malahide Cricket Ground has hosted five first-class matches and all of them involved the Ireland national team. The hosts won two of them while other three matches ended in a draw.

15 – Boyd Rankin will become the 15th player to represent two different countries in Test cricket. He made his Test debut for England during the 2014 Sydney Test against Australia which was also his last Test.

95 – Mohammad Amir needs five more wickets to complete 100 Test wickets. He has bagged 95 wickets in 30 Test matches thus far at an average of 32.87.

200 – Ed Joyce and Tim Murtagh have played 254 and 210 first-class matches respectively in their career. So far, five players have made their Test debut for a team other than England after playing 200+ FC matches.

Windies’ Ron Headley (391), South Africa’s Peter Kristen (269) and Jimmy Cook (245), Pakistan’s Khalid Ibadulla (217) and New Zealand’s Dipak Patel (253) are the others to feature in 200+ first-class matches before their Test debut. As many as 93 players featured in over 200 first-class matches before making their Test debut for England.

712 – Tim Murtagh’s 712 first-class wickets will be the most for a player before making their Test debut for any team other than England. Imran Tahir had 585 wickets in 137 matches before his Test debut for South Africa.

2000 – Ireland Women also made their Test debut against Pakistan in 2000 at Dublin. The home team won the game by an innings and 54 runs which turned out to be their only Test match.

6974 – Azhar Ali needs 26 more runs to complete 7000 runs in his International career. He also needs to score 27 more runs to complete 17000 runs in his professional career.