BAN vs IRE | "No One Said Test Cricket's Gonna Be Easy": Allan Donald

image-lg68jq4uLorcan Tucker struck his maiden Test century on Day 3 of one-off Test vs BAN [Source: Twitter]

Bangladesh have often dished out slow-low turners in Test cricket, however, in the one-off Test against Ireland, they produced an absolutely flat deck, much to the surprise of bowling coach Allan Donald.  

Despite downing Ireland to 51 for 5, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, and Andy McBrine helped their side take a 100-run lead on Day three of the first Test. 

On Day four, Ireland were eventually bowled out for 292, setting Bangladesh a target of 138 to win on Day four. The home side achieved this target with minimal ease, winning the only Test by seven wickets.

 Allan Donald also known as 'White-Lightning',  said the track on offer at Mirpur, was a dead one, which offered no help to bowlers, and required both teams to be creative and think out of the box to claim wickets.

Here's what Donald said

"Let me tell you, that's one of the flattest wickets I've seen. And there's not a lot of life for the quicks in here, especially halfway down. And we've seen a couple of balls not carry to the keeper. Hey, but that's Test cricket. No one said Test cricket's gonna be easy,"

Donald also expressed his shock over Shakib Al Hasan's decision to bowl just six overs on Day three, stating that he wasn't aware of anything wrong with the all-rounder.

"I must admit, I have no idea (why he didn't bowl much) He seems fit. He came off a couple of times just for like bathroom breaks. But I'm not quite sure. I think he wanted to give the attack a chance to go and do the job but I really don't know why he hasn't bowled enough today."

Interestingly, Hasan bowled only three overs in the first innings as well, raising concerns over his fitness.

Bangladesh's next international assignment will be a three-ODI and four T20I tour of Ireland in June.

Ireland move base to Sri Lanka for a two-Test series against the hosts, which starts April 16.