Queen's University had moved their Playing Fields in the early 1960s from Cherryvale on the Ravenhill Road to Upper Malone which had formerly been the location of Malone Golf Club. It would be fair to say that it took quite some time for the Square at this new venue to "bed in" but it was certainly improving by the year. The Pavilion was set near the top of a steep bank and afforded fine views of both the cricket ground and the Antrim Hills above the city.

Alas the fare to be watched in this fixture was generally far from riveting. Queen's won the toss and batted first following an 11 45 start. By Lunch they had reached 51 for 2 off 29 overs. EJ Deering had begun with 4 Maidens and it was in his 8th over (the 16th of the innings) that he bowled Ian Riddell for 26, at 29 for 1 ! Skipper Halliday thanks to a Kirk catch removed his opposite number Terry Nesbitt for a turgid 16 on the stroke of the break.

It was anticipated that Queen's would attempt to accelerate in the post-lunch period but in fact the innings meandered along as the bowlers toiled. McCarey, Deering, Halliday and Kirk included 32 maidens in the 80 overs which they sent down! When John Davey became Kirk's 4th wicket at Five past Four the total had crawled to 152 for 8 and it was almost time for Tea. Bertie McGill and Ernie Halliday then put on 70 rapidly off what can only be described as mainly irregular bowlers; Philip Nixon managed a maiden and Stephen Downey allowed only 2 runs off his over. Barney McKenna turned both his arms over but not at the same time; when his final delivery was plundered for six by McGill to bring up his 50 the declaration finally arrived. This was at 5 25 with a 6 30 finish to day one!

Chris Harte and Johnny Silverstone rattled along at almost three runs per over until the former was caught and bowled by Davey for 21. At the end of the day DUCC were 170 behind with 9 wickets left but it was difficult to see how any sort of a meaningful contest could be constructed on day two. The early loss of Silverstone, run out for 25, and McKenna (bowled Ernie Halliday 16) further slowed the innings and it was only thanks to Stephen Downey's 47 that DUCC got to 166. His best support came from Nixon (11), Mike Halliday (18) and McCarey (14).

Marathon spells by McGill (22 overs), E Halliday (17) and Jeff "Socrates" Glenn (24) each of whom had a fairly long run meant that progress was funereal. Queen's had achieved a first innings lead of 56 but there were now merely 2 hours 35 minutes left with a Tea interval and, potentially, a change of innings to fit in. The home team's second knock was 76 overs shorter than the first-in 10 overs (our Skipper's 3rd went for 21) they registered 50 for 2 with McGill again to the fore and then they "invited" DUCC to score 107 to win from an hour and 5 minutes.

When Mike Halliday elected to open the 2nd innings with EJ Deering as his partner it freely expressed the degree to which he felt the match had been rendered pointless. In fact when the 21 overs had been bowled Halliday was 2 not out!.. Deering in a rare visit to the crease hit 2 fours in his 11 and Ronnie McCarey elevated to number three had 5 boundaries in his 36*. Had a bit more imagination and common sense been on display on Day one it could have ensured a proper contest. And in hindsight DUCC might have returned to Dublin for the Second Round Cup match in a better frame of mind.

• Q.U.B. 222 for 8 wkts. dec. B. McGill 53*, M. Blake 28, I. Riddell 26, E. Halliday 23*; A. Kirk 27-11-49-4; M. Halliday 23-8-47-3. AND 50 for 2 wkts. dec. B. McGill 38*
• DUCC 166 all out S. Downey 47, J. Silverstone 25, C. Harte 21; J. Glenn 24-10-37-4, McGill 22-8-45-3 AND 54 for 1 wkt R. McCarey 36*. MATCH DRAWN

When DUCC turned up at a sunny Cabra on Saturday 13th June for the Old Belvedere Cup game there were reasons to be cheerful. Alec O'Riordan was away on holiday, Trinity had completed their League Fixtures un-beaten and there was surely plenty of time to complete the match before a Monday evening departure to the Cornwall leg of our Tour. On that score we need not have worried.

The fact that Michael Bryce and Simon Hewson were absent due to exams meant that Stephen Downey (who had shown excellent recent form) and EJ Deering "got the nod". It would be fair to say that after very dry weather the Cabra track was, at times, a challenge. In fact opting to bat first Belvedere toiled away for 48 overs! There were 6 Ducks in their innings; George Morgan batting number 6 and coming in at 41 for 4, managed 10*. McCarey and Frankland each took 2 for 31 and bowled 38 overs between them.

But there were 2 more astonishing figures. Skipper Halliday had 6 for 17, his last 4 wickets in 8 balls and three of them LBW! This turned 71 for 4 in to 84 all out but only after Silverstone caught Kevin O'Riordan off Frankland --- for 56!! This was an amazing knock with 9 boundaries more than all the other batsmen put together managed in this game. Kevin was "dropped" on three occasions but the consensus as we went to Tea at 5 15 was that this, whilst annoying, would hardly matter.

Mistake!; Henry Tighe and Les Lloyd proceeded to do a Frankland and McCarey on us. Although there was only 1 duck in the DUCC scorecard and NO LBWs Hart Cox's 6 was to be 2nd top-scorer. Only the Skipper with 24 provided worthwhile resistance. With Alan Kirk he put on 11 for the 9th wicket, the only double figure stand! At ten to eight any dreams of a League and Cup Double were gone, the only consolation being that Old Belvedere went on to beat Clontarf and win the CUP.

All that's left to tell now is the Tour; but since that involved travelling to Penzance and back and comprised 9 games in 11 days there's still lots to come!

• Old Belvedere 84 all out. K. O'Riordan 56;Halliday 9.2-4-17-6,Frankland 23-12-31-2, McCarey 15-5-31-2.
• DUCC 48 all out. M. Halliday 24; H. Tighe 16.5-7-20-5 L. Lloyd 15-8-25-5.