Joe Root critical of Lord's pitch: "It was not even close to a fair contest between bat and ball"

SAM MORSHEAD: Ireland's 38 all out meant both sides had been dismissed inside a session in the same Test for the first time since 1887, while Ireland's paltry effort in pursuit of 182 was the seventh lowest team score in men's Test history

Scorecard | Player Ratings | Talking Points | Nick Howson

Joe Root was highly critical of the Lord's pitch after England beat Ireland in a historically low-scoring Test at the home of cricket.

Ireland were dashed out for just 38 in their second innings on Friday to lose by 143 runs, after England had themselves been skittled out for double figures on Wednesday.

It was the first time since 1887 that both sides had been dismissed inside a session in the same Test, while Ireland's paltry effort in pursuit of 182 for victory was the seventh lowest team score in men's Test history and the worst ever at Lord's.

Root bemoaned what he declared a "substandard" playing surface, in what felt like a call to the groundstaff to curate a quicker, bouncier, truer track for the upcoming clash with Australia at the same venue in three weeks' time.

"I thought it wasn’t… not even close to a fair contest between bat and ball throughout the whole game," the England captain said.

"First innings, last innings, when you are getting scores like that, that tells a story in itself when the scores are as low as that on a surface that you play on."

^{Joe Root in action at Lord's}

Root was not entirely using the pitch as an excuse, however, admitting that England were not at their best "by any stretch".

Aside from nightwatchman Jack Leach, who made 92 in the second innings, and debutant opener Jason Roy - who hit 72 batting at No.3 on Thursday, England's top order was once again worryingly fragile.

Jonny Bairstow collected a pair, Root's discomfort at the crease was heavily conspicuous, and Rory Burns stretched his first-class run without a fifty to 14 knocks for club and country.

Plenty to worry about, then, with Australia breathing down their necks - The Ashes begins at Edgbaston on Thursday.

But Root refused to read too much into events in north west London this week.

"From a batting point of view, it’s hard to take too much out of it on a surface like that," he said.

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"The pitch tells a story in itself in how the game has unfolded. It’s on individuals. There are times when we can manage certain periods better.  Maybe we get wrapped up in the speed of things."

A lot of focus has fallen on the quick turnaround England's World Cup winners faced between the conclusion of their dramatic final against New Zealand on July 14 and the start of this Test.

Five members of the World Cup final starting XI - Root, Bairstow, Roy, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes - featured again here, and there have been suggestions that many of them had not had the time they needed to calm down, cool off and recalibrate from ODI elysium to the Test grind.

Bairstow in particular looked to still be in white-ball opener mode when he drove hard at Tim Murtagh on the first morning and ended up losing his stumps, while Root's decision to shimmy down the wicket at Mark Adair before nicking off in the second innings drew substantial criticism from Nasser Hussain in the Sky Sports commentary box.

^{Root was critical of the Lord's pitch}

Hussain questioned why England were unable to show any 'over my dead body' staying power - a thought echoed by fans and pundits throughout this game as they collapsed in each innings.

"We’ve never been in a position when we’ve won the World Cup, ave half the side being part of that and then very quickly adjust for Test cricket," Root said.

"It’s unusual anyway to have quite as quick a turnaround between formats.

"You know at the start of the summer what the fixtures look like, we tried to be quite smart resting a few guys and making sure they were absolutely ready for next week.

"It’s hard to really know how you’re going to cope with that. Whether that had an impact, I can’t speak on the part of the players. I turned up this week very excited about the Test summer and I'm very pleased we’ve found a way to win this game

“Although we’ve not been perfect we’ve done very well to come out and win this game in the end."

PLAYER RATINGS

England's selection panel - Root, head coach Trevor Bayliss and national selector Ed Smith - will meet on Friday afternoon to decide on their squad for the first Ashes Test, with the chosen few set to be named at 11am on Saturday.

Jofra Archer's place will depend in part on a run-out for Sussex in the T20 Blast on Friday night, but Jimmy Anderson is expected to be fit to face the Aussies at Edgbaston.

As for the top order, there are tough decisions to be made over who bats at No.3.

"We'll meet this afternoon and have clarity on what we want going into the series," Root said.

"We've got a pretty good idea of where we're at and what we want to go with."

And what if Lord's dishes up a similar strip in a few days' time?

“We'll have to wait and see if it is similar. I don't think it will be," the captain said. "All we have to do is make sure we try to exploit it the best we can. Find a method to cope and score runs. The challenge will be the same for Australia as it was for us and Ireland this week.

"It will make for entertaining cricket if that's the case but just have to wait and see."

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