England vs Ireland LIVE: Test cricket score and updates as England trail by 20 runs at stumps

Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have neither ripped up the cricket rule book, nor invented a new shot, but they have transformed England’s fortunes from rock bottom to entertainers.

There has always been the old question: ‘How can you not know after almost five days, which side is winning?’ But in cricket’s oldest and longest format, that has often been the case. Until recently when England sought to eliminate one of the outcomes - the draw - from their approach to Test cricket, and re-brand themselves ‘rockstars’.

The result has been thrilling for everyone who has watched England over the past 15 months. The records have tumbled, the team’s fortunes have been transformed, and crowds left wanting more.

With test match cricket increasingly being squeezed by the emergence and dominance of short form franchises the combination of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have reignited excitement in the longest format of the game.

As captain and coach Stokes and McCullum introduced an aggressive and domineering style of play that favours winning games over playing out draws.

In the past year, England have won 10 of their 12 tests (they lost the previous one by just one run against New Zealand) and there is a real hope that they can regain the Ashes this summer.

India, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan have all fallen to England’s sword but the feeling is that the pressure of an Ashes series, against an incredible bowling attack from Australia, will be the true test of whether Bazball can work long term.

England’s Joe Root is out on the field going through a few warm-up routines. The toss will be taking place soon and he’ll have his fingers crossed that England bat first.

Josh Tongue has come a long way, from the brink of retirement following debilitating injury problems to a Test debut for England.

The Worcestershire seamer recently added Steve Smith to his impressive list of scalps in the County Championship and was called up by England for their first Test of the summer, against Ireland, before it was confirmed on Tuesday that he would be in the starting XI.

At 25, Tongue has taken some big-name scalps at domestic level, including Hashim Amla.

The seamer impressed during the Lions’ tour of Sri Lanka over the winter and will look to capitalise and seize the opportunity after Olly Stone was ruled out through injury.

A big talking point with England’s team selection is the return of Jonny Bairstow following his recovery from a broken leg.

That Bairstow would come straight back into the team was never in doubt after his incredible summer last year but who he would replace was the debatable part.

Harry Brook subbed in at five for Bairstow over the winter and has excelled in his six matches so far. He’s scored over 800 runs and has an average of 80 with four centuries under his belt. That kind of form is undroppable so they next options were either Zak Crawley or Ben Foakes.

Dropping Crawley, who is arguably the weakest part of England’s batting line-up, would mean shoehorning Bairstow in to open which would not play to his strengths which left only Ben Foakes as the fall guy.

Foakes, who has hardly put a foot wrong in an England shirt, will feel harshly treated. He averages a touch over 32 with the bat, is widely regarded as the best wicketkeeper in the country and has proven an uncanny ability to tie the innings together when England’s gung-ho Bazballers occasionally fail.

Still, the management staff elected to go with Crawley and Bairstow and they’ll be hopeing that decision pays off over the next four days.

England XI: Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Bairstow, Broad, Potts, Tongue, Leach

England’s bus was blocked on its way to Lord’s by Just Stop Oil protestors.

England’s first Test match of the summer against Ireland is due to start today and the team’s journey to the ground was delayed for five minutes.

But Jonny Bairstow has shared an image of the team bus held up by members of Just Stop Oil and a ‘go slow’ protest, with police also on the scene.

The team has now arrived at Lord’s and the four-day match is expected to start on time.

The England media team have confirmed that the team bus was held up this morning by a group of Just Stop Oil protestors outside the team’s hotel.

A statement from the media manager read: “There was a small ‘go slow’ protest from Just Stop Oil near to the team hotel in Kensington.

“The team was delayed for a period of five-minutes and have now arrived at Lord’s.”

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of this one-off test match between England and Ireland.

Ben Stokes’ men kick off the summer at Lord’s and will want to rediscover their form and rhythm ahead of, what will be, a gruelling and exciting fight for the Ashes later this year. The Aussies are on the horizon but up first are the Irish who make the trip to Lord’s hoping to emulate their previous test match performance here.

Back in 2019, Ireland dismissed England for just 85 and although they went on to lose the match it was a memorable performance that is still spoken of. Ireland captain, Andrew Balbirnie, will hope that his side can give England a stern test and maybe create a few headlines on the way.

Play starts at 11 am and will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket with coverage beginning at 10 am. We’ll have all the updates and scores throughout the day so stick with us as England take on Ireland at Lord’s.