'Dial M'. Ireland pacer Tim Murtagh's nickname might remind you of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic Dial M for Murder. In the one-off ongoing Test at Lord's, Ireland dialled M, and before England knew what hit them, they were reduced to 43/7 in the first innings. Murtagh's list of victims included both the openers Rory Burns (6) and Jason Roy (5), Jonny Bairstow (0), Moeen Ali (0) and Chris Woakes (0).
The newly crowned ODI world champions couldn't have asked for a worse 'warm-up' to the much-anticipated Ashes series beginning on August 1. A rude reality check from an unfancied Ireland in the four-day Test would have been the last thing on their minds, but the 37-year-old bustling pacer clearly had other ideas. He finished with enviable figures of 5/13 off his nine overs, with England folding up for 85.
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Timothy James Murtagh, who will turn 38 next month, was always expected to trouble the England batsmen with his nippy deliveries and swing. Former England cricketer Rob Key had put it brilliantly before the match: “With Murtagh, you start seeing things that aren’t there, watching it swing away before it nips back in. You get out to him and think it’s moved four ways. You’ve played five different shots and, before you know it, you’re on your way back.”
So, did England take him lightly? If so, they did at their own peril. He ended up with the quickest five-for (in terms of deliveries bowled) in the history of Test cricket at Lord's.
Born in London, Murtagh qualified to play for Ireland in 2012 since his grandparents were born in Dublin. It was Irish batsman Ed Joyce who convinced him to play for Ireland. Murtagh was then included as a reserve player in the Ireland squad for the 2012 World Twenty20 Qualifier.
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Murtagh started his career at Surrey, where he made some useful contributions with both bat and ball. Interestingly, he was part of the England squad for the 2000 ICC Under-19 World Cup. He picked up 16 wickets in three youth Tests and 12 in seven List A Internationals for the England Under-19.
Murtagh, after seven years at Surrey, then moved to Middlesex, where he continued his good run. In the 2008 season he took 108 wickets in all formats. In 2011, he along with Steven Finn, led the Middlesex attack, picking up 80 wickets at an average of 20.98. His good form for Middlesex earned him a call-up to the Irish squad for the home series against Australia in 2012.
There's been some cricketing blood in the family, with uncle Andy turning up for Eastern Province and Hampshire, and brother Chris turning up for Surrey.
Murtagh has played 228 first-class matches, taking 800 wickets. He has also been handy with the bat lower down the order, scoring 4,083 runs.