One of the many advantages of furthering one's (cricket) education in Trinity was that it was the only club in Ireland with regular 2-day games in its fixture list. This season we had 3 such contests and the first of these was against Conn McCall's XI. These matches ran for several years having been instituted by conversations between Conn (originally a Holywood player, but by this stage at Bangor) and Terry V. Neill who came up to Trinity from Bangor Grammar School. The 1970 version was actually DUCC v Michael Rea's XI as Conn was "grounded" as his wife Margaret was "about to produce" daughter Alison.
If the names McCall and Rea seem familiar most readers will realise that Conn was already father to Peter and Mark and Michael Rea was MP Rea's (DUCC captain in 1987 & '88) "old man"! For northern "viewers" the visiting XI's batting order will evoke many memories and were I but to know it included several who were to become club colleagues later in my cricketing travels.
Archie McQuilken opened with Derek ("Genius") McCann; JG (later "the Doc") Crothers, Alfie Linehan, Ian Gourley, The Captain, Bob Magee, Tom McCormick, Brian King, Archie Campbell and Maurice ("Gloves") Moore. It was a talented group including, amongst other accomplishments, 3 Irish Internationals, 2 Treasurers of Irish Cricket, an International Umpire and a President of the ICU. They were very good company, they knew how to enjoy themselves and, especially in the slow bowling department, a strong learning experience.
There was a well tried formula to their game; they checked in to the Mont Clare Hotel and may even have been able, in those more enlightened times, to park their cars on the Nassau side of College Park! Tom McCormick (Instonians) and Brian King (ex-Bangor but then "Old Civil Service") opened the bowling and kept going for an hour; on Day Two this was curtailed to half an hour. Thereafter the 2 Archies, brother-in-law from Muckamore (McQuilken right arm, Campbell orthodox left arm) and Michael Rea bowled lots of overs.
Tight set fields and all very accurate stuff meant that you had to work out ways to score although on Day Two the Team's out-fielding tended to drop off somewhat. Throw in a College Park with many passing "spectators" and a memorable experience was guaranteed. Should it rain a game of cards upstairs in the Pavilion had, in previous years seen the meeting of 5 ft 6 inch Archie McQuilken and 6ft 3 inch PJ McSwiney (DUCC and ex-Harrow School fast bowler) a contrast in styles that had to be seen to be believed. Add in a few trips to the Lincoln Inn, a pathway much loved by regular invitee Umpire Ken Orme, and the excursion to Barry's Hotel in Denmark Street (always Chicken and Chips) and we all went "home" wiser and happier at close of play on Tuesday.
For this version Trinity batted first and struggled to 110 all out. Johnny Silverstone top scored (31) while Philip Nixon and Maggie Bryce each made 19. Duncan Parkes and John Kirby (another Bangor player) had replaced the "exam preparing" Barney McKenna and Simon Hewson. Furthermore with Ronnie McCarey's finger in recovery Eoin (EJ) Deering shared the new ball with John Frankland. When Rea's XI replied Frankland produced another 8 maidens in his 11 over opening spell; his only wicket was when he bowled Alfie Linehan to add to his growing collection of "International wickets". EJ had led the way removing McCann (LBW) and Crothers (Bowled) both for one. Mike Halliday bagged 5 wickets in his 15 overs, Bryce's leg breaks nabbed 2 victims and apart from Michael Rea's 37 only McQuilken (17), McCormick (14) and Magee (13*) managed double figures.
On a brighter second morning DUCC built on their 18 run lead. Silverstone got a quick 21, Harte (26) and Bryce (31) added 52 for the 2nd wicket and a partnership of 51 for the 7th wicket by Kirby (29*) and Alan Kirk (24) set a daunting target of 187. The tireless McQuilken had figures of 25 - 6 - 67 - 4 whilst Campbell and Rea contributed 27 overs between them. Just after 3 p.m. Rea's XI "set sail" but they found Frankland once again a handful. His 8 over first spell reaped 2 (Crothers and McCann) for 15 with 4 maidens. Bryce removed Linehan and Gourley both stumped by Harte and the skipper then swept up 5 of the last 6 wickets. At 100 for 4 with Rea and McQuilken together all was not lost but when Halliday bowled Rea 103 for 4 quickly became 127 all out! Mike's match figures were 28 overs, 7 maidens 10 for 53 - shades of Jim Laker!
Having won by 59 runs Trinity could now look forward to a 3 day rest before facing 3 matches in the space of 4 days. First of all Pembroke who had won the Leinster League for the last three years; then Malahide (4th in 19969) and Clontarf (3rd in 1969). However all the Clubs had become aware of DUCC's start and there were some notable statistics to consider. After 5 League games Michael Bryce had scored over 200 runs at an average of over 50; Barney's ton v Leinster was the only one of the season so-far. As to the bowlers John Frankland's 75 overs, 25 maidens 18 wickets for 165 runs and Ronnie McCarey's 53.1 overs, 21 maidens 13 wickets for 100 runs were more than mere "food for thought"! The skipper had 8 for 78 off 28 overs (6 maidens).
Finally it is worth noting that in the League matches DUCC had played thus far the "International Scorecrad" against them read :-
- Alec O'Riordan bowled FRANKLAND 2
- Brendan O'Brien bowled FRANKLAND 0
- Joey O'Meara bowled FRANKLAND 3
- Gerry Duffy bowled McCAREY 4
- Ian Lewis bowled FRANKLAND 0
- David Pigot ct HEWSON b McCAREY 8