Bangladesh v Ireland: Late wickets dent tourist’s hopes on day one of first Test in Sylhet

Half-centuries from Paul Stirling and debutant Cade Carmichael helped Ireland make a steady start on day one of their opening Test in Bangladesh, but four third-session wickets saw momentum swing back to the hosts.

Aided by a quintet of drops in the field, Ireland were 270-8 at the close of play with white-ball captain Stirling leading the way on 60.

In their first Test match since beating Zimbabwe in February, and first since the retirement of opening batter PJ Moor, Ireland made the worst possible start with captain Andrew Balbirnie out for a four-ball duck.

That brought Carmichael to the crease for his red-ball debut with the right-handed batter combining with Stirling to forge Ireland’s highest ever second-wicket partnership in Test cricket.

Dropped twice on 10, Stirling, who in Moor’s absence opened the batting for just a second time in his Test career, contributed nine fours from 76 balls before being caught at second slip off the bowling of Nahid Rana.