| Match | 15 |
| Date | Monday 26th, Tuesday 27th May 1962 |
| Venue | Lords |
| Result | Ireland won by 3 wickets |
| Type | Two-day match |
| Debuts | E Fowler, J Grundy, WR Napier, ME O'Brien |
| Finales | S Barry, E Fowler, R Gordon, J Grundy, WR Napier, ME O'Brien, Hon. S Ponsonby. |
| Report | Ireland, now without C.Lawrence, beat MCC by 3 wickets after being 51 behind on 1st Innings. The batting of Ponsonby; Fitzgerald and Samuels allied to S Barry and Grundy's bowling won Ireland her second victory at Lords in two attempts. The only survivors of the 1858 match were Hon. S Ponsonby and RA Fitzgerald for Ireland and FH Bathurst for M.C.C. The two great MCC. Groundstaff bowlers of the 1860's were on opposite sides. George Wootton of Notts played for MCC and Jeremy Grundy, also of Notts, was "a given man" for Ireland for the game. Wootton and Grundy were terrors on the fiery pitches at Lords in their day and between them they took 16 wickets in this match. Grundy was a teasing medium-paced bowler, hard to score off. If the pitch broke up he could be more devastating than either Jackson or Tarrant. On the pitch he wore a black velvet cap which he purposefully pushed into his belt when he went on to bowl. Wootton bowled above medium pace left handed and his round arm action produced many shooters. Wootton retired while still under 40 in order to farm. He lived to be 90! Also playing for MCC were 4 players who either had played or were to play for I Zingari v Ireland. They were GR Johnson, E Tredcroft, HW Fellows and Capt. Parnell. For Ireland S Barry in his last match "signed off" splendidly by taking 7 wickets - 5 of them in the first innings. In all 7 of this Irish team never played for Ireland again. Unfortunately very little descriptive matter about the game is still in existence. MCC went in first and were said to have batted extremely well for 131 all out. Three wickets fell cheaply, two to Grundy and one to Barry, but then Johnson (38) Fellows (38) and Parnell (23) put on a lot of runs. Samuel's "lobs" got the two principal run makers and then Barry and Grundy ran through the tail. Wootton and Johnson probably bowled unchanged to dismiss Ireland for 80. Wootton clean bowled 5 of his 6 victims and only Ponsonby got double figures. Batting at No. 5 he made 37 and prevented complete disaster. His innings included "some good hits". RA Fitzgerald was bowled by Wootton for 0, the bail travelling 39 yards back. Going in with a lead of 51, M.C.C. did badly and were 33 for 6 when stumps were drawn. Grundy dismissed FH Bathurst, GR Johnson and HW Fellows. S Barry had AR Ricardo and E Tredcroft caught while RP Moneypenny was run out. Parnell (7) and AG Chapman (3) were the not outs. Next morning the pressure was kept up by the Irish bowlers. Samuels took the remaining three wickets and with Capt. Stephens absent M.C.C. were all out for 49. Ireland required 100 - a large task in the 4th innings at Lords in those days, particularly when faced by Wootton. Johnson (1) and Wootton (3) got 4 wickets down for less than 40, but then a splendid innings of 33 not out by Fitzgerald, helped by Samuels (23) won the match for Ireland by 3 wickets. Wootton, with 4 wickets, took his total in the match to 10. Ireland went on to play the Wimbledon CC on May 31st and lost by 1 run. Ireland scored 46 and 87 to Wimbledon's 64 and 70. W Hone batted beautifully making 18 not out and 32 and only George Barry of the others made double figures in either innings. Samuels, Gordon and S Barry shared the wickets. This match is not included in the official records as the status of the game was not considered high enough. Derek Scott |