Craig Young faces a nervous wait this week to see whether he will make his Test match debut at Lord’s on Thursday after claiming just one victim in two innings as Ireland beat Essex by 10 wickets in a warm-up game at Chelmsford.

Fit and firing, the 33-year-old from County Tyrone would be the selectors choice alongside Mark Adair and Graham Hume in a three-man seam attack but there are major question marks over his inclusion after a long injury lay-off.

Young missed the second half of last summer and the T20 World Cup with a chronic hip injury and having played just one T20 in Bangladesh and one ODI since there must be doubts over his ability to last the rigours of a four-day match

Tom Mayes made a strong case for himself with match figures of 7-123, compared to Young’s 1-107, before Essex declared their second innings on 307-8, setting Ireland a victory target of 232 from 50 overs that the visitors knocked off with ease.

James McCollum and Peter ‘PJ’ Moor both scored maiden centuries for Ireland as they shared a record unbeaten stand to all but confirm they will be walking out first against England, 

Moor, the former Zimbabwe international, hit five sixes and 12 fours to finish on 118 not out while McCollum reached three figures with the final shot of the game, a lofted off drive for six, to add to his 11 fours.

As confidence boosting as the opening partnership was - surpassing Michael Rea and Stephen Warke’s previous best of 224 against Wales in 1992 - it denied other batters time in the middle ahead of the Test.

Skipper Andy Balbirnie faced just five balls in the match and Harry Tector managed four from 11 in his one innings, although Paul Stirling did make the most of his chance, scoring 107 on Saturday, and Lorcan Tucker made 97.

Meanwhile, Josh Little’s hopes of lifting the IPL title in his first season with Gujarat Titans was delayed by 24 hours as heavy rain in Ahmedabad sent the final against Chennai Super Kings into its reserve day.