England's campaign for a busy summer against archrivals Australia got off to a superb start as they took early control of the proceedings in the one-off four-day Test against neighbours Ireland.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Seasoned pacer Stuart Broad picked up a five-wicket haul before an aggressive opening stand between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett put England firmly in the driver's seat on day one of the one-off Test against Ireland at the Lord's.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
England kickstarted their summer with a dominant bowling display at Lord's against Ireland, bundling the visitors out for 172 soon after tea on Thursday. Crawley and Duckett then put on a century stand in no time to take England close to a lead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Crawley fell close to stumps to debutant Fionn Hand, but England are only 20 runs away from Ireland's total after batting 25 overs, scoring at a rate of 6.08.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Earlier, England's pace bowlers indicated how things could proceed in the Ashes series against Australia when they brushed aside concerns around their depleted attack with a strong bowling performance headlined by Broad's brilliant five-wicket haul, the 20th in his Test career.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With the new ball moving around, Broad was all over the Ireland batting line-up, reducing them to 19\/3 with key batters Andy Balbirnie and Harry Tector departing for ducks in the same over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Broad returned later to remove the resilient opener James McCollom, the only Ireland batter to play more than 100 deliveries and added another to walk away with a five-for.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Matthew Potts picked up two wickets as did Jack Leach, who came into the attack early. Josh Tongue, on Test debut, bowled probing spells but went wicketless in the innings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
James McCollum top-scored for Ireland with 36 while Curtis Campher (33) and Paul Stirling (30) made the other major contributions to the score as Ireland were bowled out cheaply.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With concerns around the injuries to James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, England needed a good start with the ball in the summer ahead of the Ashes that begins later this month. The bowling attack gave them just that with a dominant display. in north London.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
At stumps on Day One, Duckett was unbeaten on 60 with Ollie Pope on 29 as England, trailing by 20 runs, looked in a good position to post a big total and press home their advantage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Brief scores:<\/p>\r\n\r\n