IRELAND completed a stunning turnaround to win the Test against Zimbabwe at lunchtime in Stormont yesterday, with a determined fightback from the middle order the deciding factor.

Captain Andy Balbirnie had admitted his team were ‘behind the eight-ball’ on Saturday night with the score at 33-5, but pointed to the calibre of Andy McBrine, Lorcan Tucker and Mark Adair as reasons to believe.

And so it proved. Chasing down 158, McBrine and Tucker batted carefully in the first hour, giving no chances while picking off runs where they found them. It was very different batting conditions to the damp and gloom of the night before, giving way to bright sun and a day four pitch tamped down by the heavy roller.

Zimbabwe’s bowlers were blunted by the change and rarely threatened as the Irish batsmen worked to nullify their threat. There was a cheer as Tucker pushed a single to bring up the century just on the stroke of the drinks interval.

The wicketkeeper took his score to 56 before he succumbed to a delivery that kept low and he played onto his stumps. The tension upped again as Mark Adair walked to the wicket, fresh off a first-innings duck and a visit to hospital with a dislocated finger the night before.

He looked no worse for wear as he set about the bowling while McBrine steadily inched Ireland towards the target. The Donemana man had cracked five fours early in his innings but never hit a boundary in the last 22 overs he faced as he ended unbeaten with 55.

The honour of hitting the winning runs was left to Adair, from just down the road in Holywood, when he drove the ball down the ground to the fence, sparking a joyous roar among players and spectators.

That the four-wicket victory was completed by the lower order should be no surprise. Time and again the Irish backend has delivered when the specialist batsmen have failed. Astonishingly, over their nine test matches the first five Irish wickets have, on average, contributed 105 runs, while the tail has scored 139.

Unlike the flash-in-the-pan of a one-day match, a Test win has many fathers. Ireland’s bowlers fought back from 97 for 0 to roll Zimbabwe for 210 in the first innings; PJ Moor’s skilful 79 gave Ireland a flying start; the hapless Clive Matande’s butterfingers handed them 49 precious runs that proved vital in a low-scoring game; Andy McBrine and Matthew Humphreys’ last wicket stand of 47 pushed the first innings lead from ‘negligible’ to ‘useful’; and the committed bowling in the second innings, despite the failings of the fielders, set up the gripping conclusion for McBrine, Adair and Tucker.

But McBrine’s contribution stands supreme, a monument to his character as Mr Dependable. His tough, nuggety frame could have been forged in the Harland and Wolff shipyards down the road, such was his resilience as the tall Zimbabwean bowlers fired their white-hot rivets at him on Saturday night.

Balbirnie paid tribute to the 31-year-old, who was named player of the match for his 83 runs and seven wickets, more than anyone else in the match on both counts: ‘Scra is the sort of player you just want to put in your cricket bag and bring him around to every game with you.’

The North-West Warriors captain said ‘It was a fantastic win. The way we went about it, we said we’d be positive as we can. We stuck to our plan and kept being positive when Mark Adair came in.

‘The pacers were fantastic yesterday, the skipper rotated them allowing me to take wickets at the other end. It’s nice to be part of the first test win, especially here in Northern Ireland, we’ll have a few celebrations tonight.’

It means Ireland have now recorded back-to-back wins after losing their first seven games at this level from 2018. To achieve their second win so quickly is laudable: Bangladesh took 60 matches and New Zealand 55 to claim their second Test victory. Only Australia (3), Afghanistan (3) and England (4) achieved it quicker.

Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine said: ‘Those games that move very fast are exciting to watch. The conditions were really good – there was something for all the bowlers and for the batters too if they were willing to grind it out.’

After a long barren period, more Tests should come quickly for Ireland, with five scheduled for 2025, the first two coming against the same opponents in January. With both sides evenly matched, that series is already a mouth-watering prospect.