Ireland put up a valiant fightback, but England eventually prevailed at Lord’s by 10 wickets.

The third day of a previously one-sided match was extended past tea thanks to Mark Adair’s rambunctious 88 and Andrew McBrine’s tenacious undefeated 86.

Ireland still needed 190 runs to force England to bat again when they lost their sixth wicket, effectively their seventh because opener James McCollum was out hurt.

But in a seventh-wicket partnership of 163, the highest partnership in Test history for any wicket for Ireland, number nine Adair regularly blasted the ball through the leg side and McBrine played some fine strokes.

The last man Graham Hume propelled Ireland into the lead, much to the pleasure of a Lord’s crowd anxious to watch as much cricket as possible, even though Adair eventually feathered Matthew Potts behind and pace bowler Josh Tongue finished a five-wicket haul on his Test debut.

When Stuart Broad bowled Hume, Ireland were eventually dismissed for 362 runs, leaving McBrine stranded and England needing 11 runs to win.

The final Test between England and Australia, which starts on June 16 at Edgbaston, ended with a victory for England thanks to four runs from Zak Crawley, who completed the run chase in four balls.

Prior to that, focus will be on the Australians’ World Test Championship final match against India at The Oval, which begins on Wednesday.kuuu