England finally overcame a spirited fightback by Ireland to win the one-off Test at Lord’s by 10 wickets.

When Ireland lost their sixth wicket, effectively their seventh because opener James McCollum was absent injured, they still needed 190 runs to make England bat again.

But number nine Adair repeatedly flogged the ball through the leg side and McBrine played some high-class strokes in a seventh-wicket partnership of 163 – Ireland’s highest for any wicket in Tests.

Though Adair eventually feathered Matthew Potts behind and pace bowler Josh Tongue completed a five-wicket haul on his Test debut, last man Graham Hume pushed Ireland into the lead to the delight of a Lord’s crowd eager to see as much cricket as possible.

Ireland were finally dismissed for 362 when Hume was bowled by Stuart Broad, leaving McBrine stranded and England needing 11 to win.

Zak Crawley scored all of them in four balls to seal victory in England’s final Test before the Ashes series against Australia which begins on 16 June at Edgbaston.

Before then, attention turns to the Australians and their World Test Championship final against India at The Oval, starting on Wednesday.

Ireland hold up serene Ashes preparation

The heroics of Adair and McBrine disrupted what had otherwise been a straightforward week for England, an Ashes tune-up for a team in supreme form and brimming with confidence.

But, in one sense, the effort of the seventh-wicket pair is the most useful thing to come out of the game for England – runs flowing in conditions doing nothing for bowlers is much more akin to what the hosts will encounter in the Ashes than the mismatched affair up to that point.

Though that stand was frustrating for the hosts, the overall manner of their victory shows how much better placed they are for the upcoming Ashes series than the 2-2 draw with Australia four years ago, which was also preceded by a game against the Irish.

On that occasion, a much stronger Ireland team gave England a huge scare by bowling them out for 85, before eventually going down to a 143-run loss.

This time, a settled England team will head to Edgbaston grooved by 11 wins in 13 Tests. They have named an unchanged 16-man squad for the first two Ashes matches.

The only major question hanging over England – that of captain Ben Stokes’ fitness – remains. He showed discomfort in his left knee when he took a catch and became the first skipper in Test history to preside over a victory without batting, bowling or keeping wicket.

England finally break Irish spirit

At 97-3 overnight and with McCollum ruled out of the match with an ankle injury, Ireland still needed 255 to make England bat again.

Irish fight initially came through 51 from Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker’s 44 but, when Curtis Campher swept Joe Root to the wincing Stokes, the game was on course to be done by lunch.

Then came the fun engineered by Adair and McBrine. Former Warwickshire man Adair muscled anything he could into the on side. Twice Root’s off-spin was heaved for six. When England tried to bowl short, he played ramps and guides to third man, with one such deft touch bringing up a 47-ball half-century.

Left-hander McBrine crunched sweet drives through the off side and brought up his own 50 from 77 balls by reverse-sweeping the left-arm spin of Jack Leach.

England’s bowlers could find no way to stop the leak as runs came at a six an over. In the end it took a mistake from Adair, who was trying to guide a Potts bouncer to third man, for the breakthrough.

Hand hung around before edging to second slip to give Tongue the best figures by an England seamer on debut since 2017 and Hume’s back-to-back boundaries off Root dragged the match into a fourth innings.

Hume looked like he could support McBrine to a deserved century and place on the Lord’s honours board, only for Broad to get one through the gate with the second new ball. The rest was a formality.

Cheer at end of tough week for hamstrung Irish

It is hard to begrudge the Irish their Saturday in the sun. Just making England bat again was a fine achievement at the end of a difficult week for a team that is not as strong as the one that came close to an incredible upset in 2019.

Ireland have been hamstrung by their schedule. Even if purists would be horrified at the suggestion that this month’s World Cup qualifier is more important than a Lord’s Test to Irish cricket, it is still true.

That tournament in Zimbabwe led to the decision to rest key left-arm pacer Josh Little, who was playing in the final of the Indian Premier League on Monday. Ireland’s attack was crying out for his bite as England racked up 524-4 declared in the first innings.

This is the fourth Test Ireland have played this year, riches compared to the three they managed in the previous five.

Ireland’s next Test is likely to be away in Zimbabwe this winter, a reasonable chance to finally record a first Test win after seven successive defeats.

But until first-class cricket returns to the Irish domestic game – it has not been held since the onset of the pandemic – Ireland’s progress in Test cricket will be severely hampered.