Ireland hoped to bring back Goodwin and O'Riordan (the latter to bat only). For business reasons O'Riordan could not play nor could Mitchell, who was asked to replace him, so Tommy Harper of Sion Mills got his first cap. Short was not available due to examinations and BA O'Brien returned. For Wales D Jones and N Owen were playing for the fourth time. New to this match for Wales was IJ Jones, the 32-year-old former Glamorgan and England fast left arm bowler whose career had ended due to an arm injury. Also new were P Crowther, J Bell (who had played for MCC in Dublin in July), G Bevan, TG Jones and M Griffiths.

The scheduled 2 .00 PM start on Sunday was delayed 45 minutes due to rain and a wet outfield. The wicket was entirely covered at all times. In the first over Torrens bowled Jones and in the second Corlett yorked Slade. Wood and Crowther pulled Wales together but at 39 Torrens bowled Wood (19) with one that cut back. Crowther and Bell now had a stand of 41. Goodwin replaced Corlett at 48 and Monteith came on at 69 for Torrens. Anderson bowled one over before tea in place of Goodwin. Tea came after 34 overs with Wales 74-3.

Corlett then bowled with Monteith. At 18 he had Bell (16) snicking to Colhoun. Then Monteith dropped a low caught and bowled off Bevan before he scored. The batsmen were tied down by keen fielding and, at 96, Crowther misdrove Corlett to Harper at extra cover. His 45 occupied 114 minutes. The next 10 runs scored by Bevan and Pressdee took 50 minutes. Torrens returned. Bevan missed a pull and was bowled at 106. As 109 Monteith bowled TG Jones around his legs. Griffiths was caught at the wicket of Torrens at 115. IJ Jones and Pressdee added 14 in 29 minutes. Then Jones drove a wide lifter from Monteith and Goodwin took a good catch at first slip. By the close of play Wales were 130 for nine and Pressdee was 13 not out in 109 minutes.

Next morning Pressdee and Owen batted another 100 minutes (22 overs) with a couple of short rain stoppages. 36 more runs were put on and Pressdee cleverly maneuvered the strike, never allowing Owen to face the first ball of an over. Eventually Owen had to face Monteith's first bowl and scored his first and only run after batting some one hundred minutes! Two balls later Pressdee was caught at deep mid off, low, by Linehan. Ireland had to bowled 90 overs and Corlett, Torrens and Monteith shared the wickets. Heavy rain prevented any further play on the second day.

6 1/2 hours remained on the third day. The only real hope was for Ireland to knock up a very quick 50. This would leave Wales leading by about 120 with 5 1/2 hours left. Ireland, faced by IJ Jones, could have lost this type of match. Instead they batted to lunch (scoring 107-3) and declared leaving four hours play. Now Wales had no chance to win and the match petered out. Pigot was caught at the wicket in the second over and O'Brien was dropped by Slade at short square leg when two with the total three off IJ Jones. Harrison snicked to the next ball but it fell short of slip. This wicket now added to 52 in 92 minutes Owen came back and bowled Harrison (20) at 53. Anderson was uneasy and made 12 of 32 before making a mess of a hook off IJ Jones and was caught by the wicket keeper. O'Brien was cutting and pulling well and scored a series of fours. He reached 51 out of 97. Just before lunch Bell, with flat leg spin, conceded 14 runs in three overs. O'Brien got 20 of 22 added with Harper who was having a torrid time from Jones. He failed to score and O'Brien was 61 at the lunch declaration. Wales only got through 38 overs in 150 minutes. IJ Jones, at 32, was still pretty quick!

Wales, leading by 59, meandered through the two-hour lunch to tea. Losing three wickets for 85. Bell opened with Slade. The latter was again out in his first over. He hit Torrens for four and was bowled by the fifth ball. Wood and Bell scored 34 in 37 minutes. Corlett had come back in place of Torrens. He got one to lift in his first over and Wood was caught by Anderson diving forward in the gully. 38-2-19. Crowther joined Bell. At 50 there was a chance to run out Bell but Harper threw badly from third man, his only fielding mistake. Monteith came on at 50. At 70 Bell was dropped by Colhoun. Goodwin had a long spell opposite Monteith and, on the stroke of tea, had Crowther LBW on a ball he appeared to snick. 47 had been added in 85 minutes and Crowther had scored 22 in that time. Tea was now taken. Immediately after tea DA Jones was caught at the wicket off Goodwin and Bell caught low in the gully by Corlett off Monteith. Bell had been in 142 minutes for 32 and three wickets had fallen at 85. Six more runs came in 20 minutes Then Corlett relieving Goodwin, who had a sore heel, bowled Bevan. Pressdee and Jones (TG) added 20 before the match was called off by mutual agreement after three of the last 20 overs had been bowled.

Derek Scott