England suffer spectacular collapse against Ireland just weeks after World Cup triumph – The Sun

ENGLAND'S cricket heroes were brought crashing back down to earth as they suffered an embarrassing collapse to lose SEVEN wickets to minnows Ireland in one session.

The Irish were playing their first EVER match in the Test arena in England's sole warm-up game before the Ashes start next week.

But ten days after winning the World Cup, Joe Root's side were left in disarray at Lord's as they tumbled to 43-7 in just over an hour's play.

England were run through by Ireland seam bowler Tim Murtagh who collected five wickets from his first 7.3 overs at the expense of just 11 runs.

Three successive batsmen were dismissed without scoring as England produced a shambolic display with the bat.

With the big series against Australia looming next week, England are desperate to find an opening pairing able to lead them to Ashes success.

Jason Roy, fresh from his heroics in the white-ball game, was parachuted in for his Test debut but scored only five runs before he became Murtagh's first victim.

His opening partner Rory Burns managed just one run more before being sent packing – and captain Root added just two to the total.

With Root unwilling to bat at three, Joe Denley is seen as England's best hope in the key position in the batting order but he was dismissed for 23.

That said, he was still the highest scorer in a dismal period for the world champions as the next three players were sent packing for ducks.

Jonny Bairstow was bowled, then Chris Woakes was trapped lbw before Moeen Ali edged behind as his bad form from the world cup continued in the red ball game.

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