Just Stop Oil protesters, on Thursday (June 1), blocked England team but while the players and the staff were on their way to the Lord’s for the first Test of the season against Ireland.
England are all set to begin their home season with a four-day Test against Ireland before taking on Australia in the mouth-watering Ashes. However, before they could get inside the ground and begin their preparations for the Test, the protesters decided to interrupt their journey.
England star Jonny Bairstow posted a picture on his Instagram story of three activists standing in front of the team bus. Posting the picture, he wrote: “If we’re abit late it’s not our fault…”
Fortunately for England, the protest could not stop the team bus for long. The protest delayed England’s arrival at Lord’s by around five minutes. England players managed to warm-up ahead of the Test despite the delay. As of now, the hosts have won the toss and elected to bowl first.
The Test marks the return of Jonny Bairstow who has not played any international game since August last year after he ended up breaking his leg in a freak accident while playing golf. The game will also see Josh Tongue making his Test debut. Tongue was initially added to squad as an injury cover for James Anderson and Ollie Robinson before getting the nod to play the game ahead of star allrounder Chris Woakes.
England Playing XI for Ireland Test:
Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes(c), Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow(w), Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Josh Tongue, Jack Leach