It's back to Sion Mills 1969 and an incredible performance which saw the West Indies skittled for just 25 which is the favourite match of Ivan Anderson.

Ivan Anderson played 86 times for Ireland between 1966 and 1985. he scored 3777 runs at an average of 32.56 - bettered only by Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan. He scored 13 fifties and 7 hundreds, with a highest score of 198* which stood as an Irish record for years before being overtaken first by Eoin Morgan, then Ed Joyce. He also took 48 wickets at 26.50, with a best return of 5-21 versus Scotland.

From Edward Liddle's biography he is described as follows, Ivan Anderson was, unquestionably, the finest Irish batsman of his generation. Few would deny him a place in the top half dozen best Irish bats of all time: "Arguably the most complete Irish cricketer in history" (Siggins and Fitzgerald), he was a stylish upper order player, capable of dominating the best attacks, brilliant cover fielder, and a very good off spinner, who gave little away.

CricketEurope's Ian Johnston interviewed Ivan Anderson about that famous day.

Ian Johnston: I'm with Ivan Anderson, and he's going to tell us about that famous game at Sion Mills, back in 1969. Ivan, the first match you're telling me that was played in the North West?

Ivan Anderson:  Not quite, apparently it was only the third international played in the NW region - the game was played at Sion, who were then the Kingpins of North West Cricket. And so there was a lot of excitement and anticipation, that the West Indies were coming to Sion, to play in this match against Ireland.

Ian Johnston: And they literally finished a game at Lords, jumped on a plane, and headed here. But, you had been up there a day before, which was very unusual in those days.

Ivan Anderson: They stayed the night before as well. Both sides stayed in the Hotel, in Derry. In fact the night before, Ossie Colhoun, myself, and Ossie's Brother, were out. And talking about the match. And I remember Ossie's Brother saying to me, well what do you think your chance of winning tomorrow are? And I said, well, Joe English said 1,000/1. But I'm glad now I didn't take a pounds worth of a bet off him, ha ha ha. It would have been very expensive.

Ian Johnston: The rumours went about that Ireland took the West Indies out, got them drunk, and that was the reason. But that didn't happen?

Ivan Anderson: No, I mean by the time they got to the Hotel, really, if I remember rightly, we had a meal. Although I'm not quite sure about that. But I mean they were just interested in getting to bed, and getting a bit of sleep, before the event the next day.

Ian Johnston: So big excitement, obviously. And a lot pressure to get the game played. A suggestion also that the pitch was unplayable. But it wasn't really. It was the sort of thing that we were used to in those days?

Ivan Anderson: The pitch itself was just a typical Irish pitch, affected by a lot of rain. It was very soft. But by that, I mean, the pitch itself wasn't bad, or horrendous, it was just wet, soft. Great excitement all around. I mean the crowd were, there was a real hubbub of noise. The Embankment where the Railway had run along one side of the ground, was just a mass of people. All geared up, waiting to see this, you know, this great side. But no, the rumours about the pitch, the pitch was just a typical Irish pitch.

Ian Johnston: And when it got to 12 for 9, still the noise on the Bank?

Ivan Anderson: Well at that stage, it was hardly, you know, the noise suddenly subsided, once three or four wickets went down, because people couldn't quite believe what was happening. But Alec and Dougie Goodwin, bowled exceptionally well. Just bowling just short of a length. And the West Indies just kept on playing hard pitch shots, and getting out, mostly to catches.

Ian Johnston: Yes I see, I was looking at the card here, Alec got a bit of stick! He had 4 for 18, out of that total of 25. And Dougie had 5 for 6.

Ivan Anderson: Yes, it was just typical Dougie, you know, it suited him to a tee, with his height. And as I just said, that nagging, short of a length on the ball, just didn't come through onto the bat. And they had come from Lords, where they were playing on a rock hard pitch, an playing the ball on the up, which they continued to try to do. But it obviously wasn't on. Just because the condition of the pitch was so soft.

Ian Johnston: Well in the Irish Innings, there was one change to the Irish Team, Dermot Monteith didn't play in the game, he was injured. And strangely, they replaced a Left Arm Spinner with a Young Left Handed Opening Bat, a Club Mate of yours, Michael Reith for his first cap.

Ivan Anderson: Well you know, the Selectors, over the years, have made one or two strange decisions. But I suppose that in hindsight, they decided that they'd be better off with another batsman, and that they didn't have a readymade Left Arm Spinner, to replace Monty.

Ian Johnston: David Pigot got runs. He finished with 37. Robin Waters was out quickly and it was young Michael Reith who batted then with David Pigot, and knocked off the runs. But that wasn't the end of the game?

Ivan Anderson: No, the interesting thing about it was that we came off after the West Indian Innings. One of the Irish Officials, came into the dressing room, and invited the Captain to have word with him, and said, you know, we'll have to retire here now, let the West Indies get in and bat again. So there was nothing much said, until he had left the dressing room.

At this stage Robin Waters, who obviously had played County Cricket, and was more of a Professional than the rest of us, said look guys, we have a chance to make history here. There's no way we want this. This is a one day match. And if it goes to two innings, then the result will be based on two innings. But if the second innings is not completed, then the result will be determined by the first innings. So I said we're going to bat on, until we make sure that there can't be a completion of the second innings.

Ian Johnston: That's what I was sort of alluding to there. David Pigot got 37. Ireland declared then, eventually, at 125 for 8. So that was 100 ahead. West Indies go in again. And 76 for 4 at the end, with Basil Butcher scoring 50. So technically Ireland win by 9 wickets on first innings. And that's not the way it would be remembered, it will always be remembered, as the day we bowled them out for 25, and hammered them. And as you say, it was history.

Ivan Anderson: That's right. If you talk to anybody about the match, they never remember that in fact the West Indies batted a second time. But we batted long enough to make sure that, I mean, it was impossible for them, because of the pitch, the slow pitch, scoring rate was never going to be high enough, by then, to make us bat again. But it's interesting that nobody ever remembers that. And it's always just the fact that the West Indies only made 25, and that was it.

Ian Johnston: Well that is the history. But of course you played actually a two way game, the next two days down in Belfast?

Ivan Anderson: Yes, we played them at Ormeau. And a much firmer track there. And we managed to get out of it with a reasonably creditable draw, in a good match. And it was my first experience of the great Clive Lloyd fielding. I played one towards him at midwicket, and I suppose, in our Club Cricket, there was always a single there. But I got about two steps, when I saw the ball coming straight back towards the Wicket Keeper, and did a hasty retreat. That was my first experience of Lloyd as a Magnificent Fielder.

Ian Johnston: So a win over the series, played two, won one, and drawn one. But that second game, that's a story for another day. Ivan thank you very much indeed for those thoughts on that most famous of Irish Victories.

Round	253
Toss won by	West Indies
Umpires	A Tichett - M Stott
Home Side	Ireland
Comment	253/6 VA holder fielded as substitute for West Indies. Ireland won by 9 wickets on first innings Debut: MS Reith
Match Report	here

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
GS Camacho	c PJ Dineen	b DE Goodwin	1	0	0	0
MC Carew	c LP Hughes	b AJ O'Riordan	0	0	0	0
MLC Foster	run out LP Hughes		2	0	0	0
BF Butcher*	c GAA Duffy	b AJ O'Riordan	2	0	0	0
CH LLoyd	c RHC Waters	b DE Goodwin	1	0	0	0
CL Walcott	c IJ Anderson	b AJ O'Riordan	6	0	0	0
JN Shepherd	c GAA Duffy	b DE Goodwin	0	0	0	0
TM Findlay+	c RHC Waters	b DE Goodwin	0	0	0	0
P Roberts	c OD Colhoun	b AJ O'Riordan	0	0	0	0
GC Shillingford	not out		9	0	0	0
PD Blair		b DE Goodwin	3	0	0	0
extras		(b1 lb0 w0 nb0)	1
TOTAL		10 wickets for	25

FOW
1-1(GS Camacho) 2-1(MC Carew) 3-3(MLC Foster) 4-6(BF Butcher) 5-6(CH LLoyd)
6-8(JN Shepherd) 7-12(TM Findlay) 8-12(CL Walcott) 9-12(P Roberts) 10-25(PD Blair)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
AJ O'Riordan	13	8	18	4	-	-
DE Goodwin	12.5	8	6	5	-	-

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
DR Pigot (Jnr)	c GS Camacho	b GC Shillingford	37	0	0	0
RHC Waters	c TM Findlay	b PD Blair	2	0	0	0
MS Reith	lbw	b JN Shepherd	10	0	0	0
J Harrison	lbw	b JN Shepherd	0	0	0	0
IJ Anderson	c JN Shepherd	b P Roberts	7	0	0	0
PJ Dineen		b JN Shepherd	0	0	0	0
AJ O'Riordan		c&b MC Carew	35	0	0	0
GAA Duffy	not out		15	0	0	0
LP Hughes	c sub	b MC Carew	13	0	0	0
DE Goodwin*	dnb
OD Colhoun+	dnb
extras		(b0 lb2 w0 nb4)	6
TOTAL		8 wickets for	125

FOW
1-19(RHC Waters) 2-30(MS Reith) 3-34(J Harrison) 4-51(IJ Anderson) 5-55(PJ Dineen)
6-69(DR Pigot (Jnr)) 7-103(AJ O'Riordan) 8-125(LP Hughes)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
PD Blair	8	4	14	1	-	-
GC Shillingford	7	2	19	1	-	-
JN Shepherd	13	4	20	3	-	-
P Roberts	16	3	43	1	-	-
MC Carew	3.2	0	23	2	-	-

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
GS Camacho	c PJ Dineen	b DE Goodwin	1	0	0	0
MC Carew	c DR Pigot (Jnr)	b GAA Duffy	25	0	0	0
MLC Foster	c DR Pigot (Jnr)	b DE Goodwin	0	0	0	0
BF Butcher*	c RHC Waters	b GAA Duffy	50	0	0	0
CH LLoyd	not out		0	0	0	0
CL Walcott	not out		0	0	0	0
JN Shepherd	dnb
TM Findlay+	dnb
P Roberts	dnb
GC Shillingford	dnb
PD Blair	dnb
extras		(b0 lb0 w0 nb0)	0
TOTAL		4 wickets for	76

FOW
1-1(GS Camacho) 2-1(MLC Foster) 3-73(BF Butcher) 4-76(MC Carew)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
AJ O'Riordan	6	1	21	0	-	-
DE Goodwin	2	1	1	2	-	-
LP Hughes	7	4	10	0	-	-
GAA Duffy	12	8	12	2	-	-
IJ Anderson	7	1	32	0	-	-