Ireland left out Cooke, McCrum, Carson, G Molins and Rutherford in order to give a game to Eagleson, JO Davy, J Molins, Dwyer and Bushe. Bushe replaced Rutherford when the latter declared on the previous day that he would be unable to go to the European Championships in Holland.

South Africa brought in Liebenberg (W-K), Kirsten, Donald and Klusener to replace Rhodes, Boucher, Adams and Ntini. All the newcomers took part in the Test series in England. A South African fielding practice prior to the match evoked much interest. From an Irish viewpoint the great feature of the match was a thrilling century by the Irish Captain, Angus Dunlop.

South Africa won the toss and both opening bats, Kirsten and Klusener were left handed as was one of Ireland's opening bowlers - Davy. The start on the slow pitch was quiet. 14 was up in six overs. Then Davy removed Klusener's middle stump with a well pitched up ball. 15-1-6. Symcox, the off spinner who had made a Test Match Century batting at number 10, hit Davy for a four and did so again in Davy's next over. Two balls later Symcox skied Davy to deep mid-on where J. Molins took a good catch at the second attempt. McMillan came in and was lucky that a snick off Eagleson fell short of Bushe when McMillan was only one. Heasley bowled one over at the city end and then switched to replace Eagleson with Dwyer at the city end. Dwyer struck in his second over. 10 runs came from it but McMillan pushed too soon at the last ball and returned a catch to Dwyer. 63-3-9. 19 overs had been bowled.

Cullinan joined Kirsten and the next stand produced 31 runs in almost six overs. Then Dwyer struck again in his fifth over. Kirsten had faced 73 balls for 47 and was becoming frustrated. He hit a head high catch back to Dwyer. 95-4-47. Cronje joined Cullinan in over 25. They started slowly against McCallan, who had replaced Heasley, and Dwyer. Cullinan hit Dwyer for a six over mid-wicket and the bowler was taken off after nine overs (two for 44). Heasley returned and the run rate quickened. 150 was up in over 37. Cronje hit McCallan for a six over long-on and three overs later put Heasley over mid-wicket for another six. Both reached 50 in McCallan's ninth over, the 42nd. Cullinan got there first in 63 balls and then, next ball, Cronje in 55 balls. Cullinan celebrated with a mid-wicket six off Heasley in the latter's last over (nought for 67) and another over long-off in McCallan's last over (nought for 59). The first six brought up 200 in over 43. Davy came back and Cronje hit him for three successive fours. Dwyer had an over to bowl which he did at this point, replacing McCallan. Cronje hit his fourth ball for his sixth and last four. The fitth saw him caught at long-on by Eagleson, a good low catch. 237-4-74. The Cullinan/Cronje stand added 142 in 73 minutes off 128 balls Cronje's 74 came off 70 balls with 2x6 and 6x4. Cullinan had crossed and was facing Dwyer's last ball. Cullinan repeated Cronje's shot but Eagleson, racing in could not hold on this time. Cullinan was 75.

The score was 238 after 46 overs with Liebenberg in. The latter faced only seven of the remaining balls in order to give Cullinan his century. Cullinan took seven off Davy (47th), 11 off Eagleson (48th) but Davy restricted him to three in the 49th. He stood at 97 when Eagleson came to bowl the last over. Liebenberg got a leg bye. Then Cullinan scored a "pick-up" six to reach 103. He followed this with a straight six and two fours. His 117 was made in 113 minutes with 5 sixes and 11 fours. He faced 93 balls. It was great crowd entertainment. Davy's two for 46 and Dwyer, three for 50, stood out among the five bowlers.

Ireland started badly. Pollock and Elworthy bowled 8 overs each. By the time they had bowled 6 each Ireland were 44 for 5. Pollock bowled McCallan with the first ball of the innings. Joyce and Smyth got the score to 24. The Elworthy got both of them in successive overs, both caught at the wicket off faint snicks. At 41 J.Molins pulled across Pollock and was bowled. In the next over Elworthy had Gillespie caught at first slip when he chased a wide ball.

Dunlop and Heasley now had a job to retrieve the situation. 50 came up in over 15. Cronje and Donald (the best fast bowler in the world) came on. Heasley hit Cronje for two fours and then, in the over in which he got out, he hit a six to bring up 100 in over 23. Two balls later he was out, caught at short extra cover. 57 had been put on and Heasley made 29 of them off 37 balls. Eagleson went at 107 caught at the wicket off Donald. Davy joined Dunlop, who at this point was 20. Donald bowled five overs and was replaced by off-spinner Symcox. Cronje bowled his full 10 over stint. Davy defended while Dunlop tried to increase the pace. He hit Cronje for 10 in one over and 11 came off Cronje's last over.

Cullinan came on with off spin for the 36th over which brought up 150 and Dunlop's 50 in 65 balls. Then Dunlop took a liking to Symcox and hit two sixes in an over both over wide long-on. In over 41 Dunlop lost Davy after a stand of 75 in 51 minutes and 105 balls. Davy made only 12 when he was caught by Donald at deep square leg - for once trying an aggressive stroke. Bushe came in and watched Dunlop hit Cullinan for a six over mid-wicket followed by a four to wide long-on. 200 arrived in over 46 and so did Bushe's end. He was stumped off Symcox when he should have been assisting his captain to his century. 25 balls remained when Dwyer arrived at no. 11 and Dunlop was 88. Dwyer told Dunlop he was not going to get out. The rest was up to Dunlop. Dunlop swept a six to square leg off Cullinan off the first ball of the 47th over. A single next ball. Then Dwyer played out the over. Dunlop was 95. Pollock returned for Symcox (one for 31 in 10 overs), and bowled off spin around the wicket. Dunlop got three runs this over and Dwyer hit a boundary. Dunlop was now 98. Dwyer got one bad ball in Cullinan's last over. He hit it for four and defended five balls.

Now Dunlop had strike, on 98, for the last over from Pollock. He defended two balls, then hit a two to mid-wicket amid great jubilation. He finished on 101 in 135 minutes off only 104 balls with four sixes and seven fours. He went from 52 to 101 in 37 balls. Dunlop's century was only the second against a Test playing country and it came 70 years after the first. In June 1928 George McVeagh scored a second innings century at College Park -v- West Indies. It was an innings which helped to win that three day match. In 1994 Stephen Smyth had a near miss -v- West Indies when he scored 98 not out.

Derek Scott