Mark Adair fights through the pain barrier to play key role in Ireland's historic home Test victory over Zimbabwe

​The 28-year-old, who surpassed 200 wickets in international cricket after collecting four across Northern Ireland’s maiden Test, suffered what turned out to be a dislocated finger in the closing stages of Zimbabwe’s innings, but was present at the crease alongside Andy McBrine (55*) as Ireland celebrated success by four wickets.

Having grown up a stone’s throw from Stormont and played his club cricket at the Belfast venue for CSNI before moving to Warwickshire, this occasion had extra significance for Adair and with this just Ireland’s second Test on home soil – and first since their 2018 debut in cricket’s longest format – he’d love to experience the feeling again in the future.

"I got a ball to the mouth warming up on day two and then dislocated my finger on day three, so it hasn't been a fantastic week!” he laughed. “It was great.

"I loved doing it with Scra (McBrine).

"He's my best mate in cricket and he's somebody you love being around, so I was delighted to do it with him.

"I didn't feel I bowled that well but a win is a win and it's fantastic to be here. To know that I did it in front of family and friends, I was delighted.

"I would love it (to play more Test cricket at home). We've shown that we can produce a good wicket - there were tricky periods, some really nice periods to bat and the pitch was really good.

"If it had have went to day five then I think we would have seen spin come into it. That's the sign of a good wicket and while we didn't post the 300/400 you'd see in England, I thought it was class."

Adair, who now plays his club cricket for Gallagher Challenge Cup finalists Lisburn after helping CIYMS dominate the local scene in recent years, was never in doubt that Ireland could recover from what looked like a perilous position of 21/5 in the second innings.

"The chat in the meeting this morning was 'do we have the players capable of doing this?', and the answer was absolutely yes,” he added. “We did it and we're delighted."