IRE v PAK: Cricket fraternity congratulates Kevin O’Brien for becoming the first Irish Test centurion

Kevin O'Brien became the first Ireland batsman to score a Test century.

Kevin O'Brien became the 4th batsman to score a century in his country's debut Test | Reuters

Ireland is making history at The Village Ground, Malahide, Dublin, where they are playing their first ever Test match against Pakistan.

The 11th cricketing nation to play Tests, Ireland had put in Pakistan to bat first, after the first day’s play was washed out due to rain. Pakistan made 310/9d, with Faheem Ashraf making 83. Ireland collapsed to 130 all out in their first innings and was asked to follow-on by Pakistan.

In their second innings though, Irish batsmen got hold of this Test match batting and one batsman in particular created history.

Kevin O’Brien became Ireland’s first Test centurion and also the fourth batsman to score a century in their country’s debut Test, after Charles Bannerman (AUS) in 1877 against England in the first ever Test match, Dave Houghton (ZIM) against India in 1992 and Aminul Islam (BAN) also against India in 2000.

Kevin O’Brien’s 118* (still batting) has given Ireland a lead of 139 runs and a dream of achieving a Test win in their debut Test. Incidentally, Kevin O’Brien also holds the record of the fastest century in a World Cup match, off just 50 balls against England in Bengaluru, in the 2011 World Cup, a match where Ireland beat England with odds stacked against them, chasing down 327.

The cricketing fraternity was amazed and in awe of Kevin O’Brien’s historic feat and congratulated him on Twitter, on a superlative effort and for etching his name in cricketing record books with a debut century.

Here are some tweets:

 

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 15 May, 2018

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