11.11am Well, that was short and to the point! Ireland need 182 for their maiden Test victory. Against England. At Lord's. You couldn't script it better. Back in ten!
OP Stone b Thompson 0 (18m 11b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Stuart Thompson to resume his over... two balls to come. Three slips, a ring of three on the off side, two on the leg. Play!
Play to start at 11.10am. "Paul Collingwood has rung the five-minute (Ian) Bell," says George Dobell. Out comes England's tenth-wicket pair, Olly Stone and Stuart Broad, with an important mini-role. Any extra runs gratefully received by their team-mates.
In other news, Mohammad Amir has announced his retirement from Test cricket. Full details to follow on ESPNcricinfo shortly...
10.59am So the hover-cover is in place in the middle, and a few brollies are up. The full covers aren't out though ... we ought to be underway soon. The umpires are out there inspecting at the moment ...and off comes the cover!
Anandita Thass: "Is it only me who thinks that match is already pretty much out of Ireland's hands? I would say 80:20 in England's favor. Miller?" I wouldn't go that far, but yes, I think that Curran's innings just tipped the balance back to the hosts.
10.47pm Just under 15 minutes to go ... though there's rumours of another nasty stormcloud sweeping over St John's Wood. Sit tight, it'll blow over.
Alan Hardy: "Test upsets - Bangladesh v England 2016..." I acutally saw that one coming ... they should have won the first Test as well, after all!
10.33am Before we get stuck into the grand finale today, a word for the main man of England's batting, and what an improbable man. Jack Leach, the nightwatchman, not only excelled himself in making a career-best 92, he outscored the entire first innings, as well as the combined efforts of the rest of the top eight second-time around, bar Jason Roy. Stunning. But I wonder if his dad will be watching today?
Vibhash: "So its overcast now when England needs to defend a total. As an Indian fan I remember so many instances when it suddenly became overcast when England was bowling and sunny when they were batting. This English weather is so biased. " Terribly sorry old boy. I'll have a word with the old chap upstairs.
Paul Frame: "If Ireland win this will be the biggest shock to an England test team since 1950?" Ah, those two little pals of mine...
Navjot S Bhatia: "@Andrew: The link shared by Andy for takes us to a match won by WI by 5 Wickets @ Leeds while you referring to an innings defeat at Edgebaston. Confusion..?" Nope ... the innings defeat was the match before the win!
10.20am So the rain has stopped, the covers are off, it's still pretty overcast though that won't bother England too much you suspect. They'll need all the assistance going to get out of this one. Plus maybe another 20 runs from the tail ... Stuart Broad and Olly Stone to tee off in the first few overs?
David Finlay: "Giant Killing - Eng bt WI in Barbados (of all places) 1994 after being bowled out for 42 in prior game." Decent shout, though the series was already gone. 1990 was by far the more shocking achievement, for all that WI had lost in Barbados, like, never....
Kyp: "What do you guys think about Denly? For me it is a move which makes our batting order worse! Root should be 3(a forever argument), Roy 4, Stokes 5, Buttler 6, Foakes 7 (yes I would drop Bairstow he isn't a good enough test specialist batsmen) - It still leaves us with problems at 1 & 2 but makes a far more solid line up and balanced batting attack IMHO"
Yorkie Dave: "Hopefully Ireland will do a Glamorgan and we'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Do you think anyone will notice if Tom Curran takes over from his brother ?"
10.16am Andy: "West Indies at Headingley in 2017?" Hell yes! Shai Hope, Kraigg Brathwaite ... that innings defeat at Edgbaston ... a classic of the genre...
Stefan: "As much as it pains me to say this, Sri Lanka in SA earlier this year will remain the biggest upset for me, regardless of what transpires here. This is said on the basis of them winning BOTH tests in the series when no-one even remotely gave them a chance of even competing. "
10.03am While you ponder those giantkillings, let's ponder the weather. The bad news is that it has been raining heavily in London this morning. The good news is that it stopped recently, and the weather is set to set dry for the rest of the day. Besides, the Lord's drainage is ludicrously efficient, and there are two 98-over days remaining in which to claim 11 wickets or knock off 200-odd runs. I think we'll get a result somehow...
Shikhar pathak: "I won't have Zimbabwe v pak in giant killing (anything possible when pak is playing ). Neither will I have SLanka win in the list (they were world champions then)" They were ... but then so are England now, and as they are intent on proving at the moment, Tests and ODIs are mightily different beasts. And besides, you can't ignore the shock that that defeat caused in England. Sri Lanka had been rather sniffily restricted to solitary Tests in between marquee series (sound familiar?) until Murali and Co served up an unforgettable lesson in hubris!
Ilanin: "Weren't England written off in 1981 before a ball was bowled at Headingley due to how terrible they'd been in the first two Tests anyway? The first couple of days of the Headingley Test were just going to form. Edgbaston 2005 is another instance of this. " Perhaps, but they were the Ashes holders in the first instance, and were still England's strongest team in years in the second.
9.55am Now then, now then. We've got ourselves a bona-fide humdinging one-innings Test-match showdown looming. It's the third day of England v Ireland at Lord's, and it could, quite conceivably, be MASSIVE!
Think about it. How often do genuine acts of giantkilling occur in Test cricket? By that I mean teams winning from a position where they had been completely written off before a ball had been bowled, rather than battling back from adversity a la Headingley 1981 or Kolkata 2001?
I can think of a handful off the top of my head - Zimbabwe beating Pakistan in 1994-95, England beating West Indies in Jamaica in 1990. Sri Lanka's win at The Oval in 1998, or in South Africa earlier this year. And potentially, if Ireland can claim one more quick wicket this morning and chase down a +/-200 total, we'll have an indisputable addition to that list!
6.31pm: That is stumps, the covers are on and they are not getting back out tonight. What a game this has been... Poised on a knife edge, with England scrapping towards a 200-run lead. Ireland are probably slight favourites, but this is unlikely to be a comfortable chase; then again, they've confounded expectations at every turn here, and will doubtless turn up again in the morning, hell bent on sealing a famous win. Right, that's it from us, George's report will be updated shortly and we'll be back tomorrow. Cheerio!
6.23pm It's raining now too, is the latest from the ground, with the full-square covers being unfurled. Could be terminal.
That's it, they're going off, Aleem Dar signals that conditions have deteriorated, and on comes the hover cover. That's not necessarily curtains for the night, but we need it to improve in the next 15 minutes or so
"50+ runs for the last two wickets," muses iaind. "Could be a match-winning combination."
Lightning in the background behind the pavilion! A storm's a-brewing, I tells ya...
The floodlights are coming on now, too
It's getting a bit gloomy out there, the umpires coming together. We're supposed to play for another 50 minutes, but there might be some rain around... The groundstaff are hovering near the hover cover. But we'll continue for now!
"Why are there still 22 overs left today?" Four-day Test, Jim. So we're supposed to play 98 overs [guffaws]
END OF OVER:77 | (maiden) | ENG: 302/9
- Olly Stone0 (9b)
- Stuart Broad20 (22b)
- Mark Adair20-7-66-3
- Stuart Thompson12-0-43-2
Mark Garrett: "How on earth is Sam Curran batting below Moeen Ali?" Genuinely a fair question, on current form
"Bring Murtagh and finish it," squeals NavrajUpadhyaya
Another change, Mark Adair back
END OF OVER:76 | 6 Runs | ENG: 302/9
- Stuart Broad20 (22b)
- Olly Stone0 (3b)
- Stuart Thompson12-0-43-2
- Andy McBrine10-1-47-0
Brings up the England 300, another psychological milestone...?
"Over the last couple of days we have witnessed a generation of batsmen who find it completely impossible to play defensively. This is down to being brought up on T20." You might well be right, John Iain Pearc. But that's not going to change now, is it?
"Surely we are in a runs on the board situation now, 170 plus will take some getting." Roger Lilley sounds hopeful, rather than confident...
END OF OVER:75 | 3 Runs | ENG: 296/9
- Olly Stone0 (3b)
- Stuart Broad14 (16b)
- Andy McBrine10-1-47-0
- Stuart Thompson11-0-37-2
"Anything around 180 will be a very interesting chase on the cards (yawning and msging from Bangkok at 12 midnight)," moops Sriram N
