Ireland brought in a third fast bowler, Torrens, for the first time since the 1970 match against Scotland. Then Duffy cried off and was replaced by batsman BA O'Brien who last played in 1968. This again unbalanced the bowling department but there was not another slow bowler good enough to play. OD Colhoun was playing his 50th match for Ireland as wicket-keeper (39 in succession). His victims after this match totalled 97.

It rained all day Friday but play was able to start on time on Saturday. Chisholm and Fairweather opened to O'Riordan and Goodwin. The first over was eventful. Chisholm hit a two and three off the first two balls both friendly off side half volleys. Fairweather snicked the fifth ball for two and was caught by Reith at second slip off the sixth. Chisholm and Hardie then played out another 40 overs on to lunch. In these only 44 runs were scored and the lunch score was 51-1, Chisholm 26, Hardie 21. At eight Pigot made a great effort to catch Chisholm (then 5) at short leg. He knocked a drive up behind him, dived a long way after it but could not hold on. One hour produced only 17 (remembering there were seven in the first over). Monteith and Torrens were both tried for O'Riordan. Then Torrens relieved Goodwin who was most unlucky. The ball was seaming off the wicket and both batsmen were frequently beaten. At 33 O'Riordan dropped Chisholm (18) to his left hand at second slip off Torrens. The first four came after nearly 2 hours.

After lunch Goodwin bowled again in harness with O'Riordan and Scotland collapsed. 56-1 became 80-9. Then the last pair added an invaluable 29. At 56 Chisholm snicked O'Riordan on to his knee. The ball hung in the air and Pigot dived forward to catch it from short leg. More was off the mark first ball, but in the same over Hardie was nearly LBW and was then bowled by the last ball of the over. In Goodwin's next over Torrens dropped More at first slip but in his next over Racionzer was caught at the wicket playing back at a lifting ball. Another wicket fell in O'Riordan's next over. More swept O'Riordan to deepish square leg where Harrison caught the ball after a juggle. Allan and Ellis were now together. They added 11 runs and there was a double change of bowling - Torrens for Goodwin and Monteith for O'Riordan. At 73 Allan snicked Monteith to Colhoun. Three runs later Torrens took two wickets. Ellis hit a full toss and Pigot picked up a smart catch at short leg. Two balls later Goddard was caught at the wicket off his gloves. Thompson came in and drove a ball which Pigot just failed to get his hands to. At 79 there was a possible run out chance when Brown hit Monteith to Goodwin at mid-off but the throw was wide. At 80 Brown hit over a full length ball from Torrens and was bowled. 80-9. Robertson and Thompson then added 29 in 26 minutes of attractive batting. Monteith conceded 16 of these runs and probably bowled a couple of overs to many. However, he did have Robertson (7) dropped by Torrens at slip off him with the total on 85. Goodwin ended the innings when Robertson was caught at extra-cover. Scotland's 109 came off 78.2 overs, in just four hours. O'Riordan bowled 22 overs and took 4-23. Goodwin took 2-15 in 20.2 overs. Torrens had 3-36 in 20 overs. It was Torrens first match against Scotland. The wicket undoubtedly favoured the bowlers with its uneven bounce but it was not as bad as Scotland's batting would indicate.

Ireland opened in hustling style. 17 came in four overs off Robertson and Thompson. Pigot might have been out twice in the first over from Thompson close in. He snicked a four and pulled a four in Thompson's fifth over and was caught at short square leg off the last ball. 28-1-12. Reith was looking very aggressive but was out in the next over. Robertson bowled a ball which lifted. Reith could not evade it and it lobbed to gully. 32-2-20. Anderson tried a pull sweep off the first ball of Robertson's next over. It hit the handle and Fairweather took a very good low catch at leg slip. In Robertson's second over Harrison chipped a ball off his legs and was brilliantly caught low and left-handed by Ellis at forward short leg. The score was now 35-4. O'Brien played well until he played too soon at Thompson and was easily caught at short leg. O'Riordan and Dineen saw 50 up but, at 57, Dineen did not kill a rising ball from Robertson. Hardie dived to his right at third slip and took a low two-handed catch. Monteith came in with 34 minutes to go. 23 runs were added and no further wicket fell. O'Riordan reached 28 and played very well. After a few wild swings Monteith steadied down. Ellis and Allan were tried towards the end.

Sunday was a fine day but it rained all night and until mid-day on Monday. There was some hope of play at around 5 pm but more rain ruled that out.

On Tuesday play began at 11 am. The wicket was slower but still the heights varied. O'Riordan was dropped at second slip by Thompson off Robertson from the second ball of the day. It was a fast high catch to second slip. It was not an expensive miss. O'Riordan mis-hooked Thompson at 87 and was caught at square leg. 10 runs later Goodwin was caught at mid-on while driving. Ellis replaced Thompson and at 102 Torrens was caught at slip off him from a fine edge. Next over Monteith took a risky single off the first ball and Colhoun was caught at the wicket off the second. Monteith batted 80 minutes for his 18 not out. His previous 17 innings for Ireland, stretching back to 1967, were all in single figures. Robertson took 6-58 in 17.2 overs. Ireland got their 103 in 41.2 overs - almost half as many as Scotland. The Scottish catching was superb, all 10 Irish wickets falling to catches.

Scotland went in again with a lead of six and five hours remaining. They again played very slowly making 116-4 off 67 overs. Ireland kept it tight but Scotland were not prepared to offer Ireland any reasonable declaration. Fairweather played better than in the first innings but, at 11, he skied Goodwin to gully while attempting a leg hit. Chisholm and Hardie again joined in a slow grinding stand. They did speed up in the 20 minutes before lunch which was taken at 56-1, scored in 95 minutes. O'Riordan and Goodwin bowled after lunch. At 67 Hardie was caught at the wicket cutting a ball from O'Riordan which kept low. Now Ireland began to spill catches. G Crothers, a wicket-keeper, was acting 12th man. He came on after lunch for Dineen who had a sore foot. At 79 he dropped a slashed catch to his right at gully by Chisholm off O'Riordan. Torrens came on for Goodwin at 77 and Crothers dropped More in the gully to his left. Monteith replaced O'Riordan at 82. With the last ball of his second over More was caught at the wicket while attempting a late cut. Racionzer was bowled by Torrens next over, the ball keeping very low. Next over Crothers missed a clear run out with a weak throw from cover. Crothers completed his tale of woe - four chances in an hour when he dropped Chisholm off an easy gully chance at 105 off Monteith when the batsman was 43. Reith came on and bowled three tidy overs. There was yet another catch to go down. Chisholm, when 48, drove Monteith high to O'Riordan at deep extra cover. The catch went down and Chisholm completed his seventh and last score of over 50 against Ireland. The declaration came at tea, 4 15 pm. Chisholm had batted 220 minutes for his 51 not out.

Ireland were set 20 minutes and 20 overs to get 123 to win. It should have been 25 minutes but a new ball could not be found! Five runs an over was the required rate. Reith hit two successive fours in Thompson's second over. The final 20 overs began after five overs had produced 16 runs. In the third of the final 20 overs, bowled by Robertson, Pigot was bowled by a ball which crept. 21-1-6. With the score at 26, three wickets fell within 10 balls. Reith was bowled by Robertson driving with his head up. O Brien was promoted to number four and was magnificently caught by Goddard diving to his left in the gully and taking the ball in one hand. It was the third ball he faced, in the same over as Reith's dismissal. Next over Harrison was bowled playing forward. Dineen came in with 14 overs to go. Next over Anderson called him for a silly run and Dineen was fortunate not to be run out. This ended the excitement. Goddard bowled two overs at the end of the first of which Anderson hit three fours. When he reached 14 Anderson had scored 1000 runs for Ireland. It was his 24th match and 42nd innings. Only TG McVeigh (31) and JS Pollock (41) had reached 1000 runs in fewer innings.

Derek Scott