Of the team originally selected for this match, Cantwell was ill and unable to play. The chosen substitute K Quinn was not available so A Finlay made his debut. Subsequent suggestions were made to the effect that while Cantwell may have been ill, it was his football club West Ham United who refused to allow him play in this game, perhaps because they weren't satisfied he was sufficiently recovered.

The West Indies had not played in Ireland since 1928. On that occasion Ireland won by 60 runs thereby inflicting on the West Indies their first defeat of the tour. George McVeigh, now President of the Irish Cricket Union, scored 102 not out and took four catches in the second innings, including a catch which won the game with only four minutes remaining.

This 1957 West Indies team did not win a Test Match. Their bowling was thin and their batsmen, with the exception of Worrell and Smith, out of form. They came to this game in Belfast direct from the third Test at Trent Bridge where Smith and Goddard saved the day for them with a 7th wicket stand. Five of the Test Team played here - Sobers, Walcott (who captained the team), Kanhai, Atkinson and Valentine. The two new caps, Eager and Finlay, scored 70 runs between them out of a total of 119. The policy of the selectors was to pack the batting so only three pure bowlers were played. Kenny, Marks and O'Brien had not played since 1955.

The weather ruined the game entirely. After a glorious first day when 5000 people paid £600, there was no play after 12 o'clock on the second day. Ireland did reasonably well on the first day. After being 61-1 and then 81-2, they were all out for 119. The West Indies in 2½ hours batting were well contained, particularly by Kenny and Huey, and scored 130-2.The wicket was soft on top but became more difficult later in the day as the hot sun dried it out. West Indies had two pace bowlers, Dewdney and Hall, and in Hall's fourth over he bowled O'Brien with a good one and just when O'Brien appeared to have settled down. 18-1-11. Eager joined Bergin and they were together at lunch when the score was 36-1. The game had begun 20 minutes late due to the non-arrival of the West Indies baggage. Bergin was three not out at lunch, after 72 minutes! However he was batting virtually one-handed as he had aggravated a previous hand injury.

Valentine and Atkinson shared the bowling afterwards. Valentine was pitching short and Eager got runs quickly so that Sobers was tried. At 61 Bergin was caught at the wicket off Atkinson for 11 made in 100 minutes. Warke and Eager took the score to 81 and a reasonable score looked possible. Then Valentine was reintroduced and the last eight wickets fell for only 38 runs. Valentine had Warke caught at gully in his first over and Eager hit a long-hop to mid-wicket in his second over. Pollock was stumped in his third over. Finlay hit three fours off his fourth over and, in all, Finlay scored 29 not out out of 32 runs scored until the close of the innings. He was severe on Valentine who spun the ball well but bowled a great number of very bad balls. He took 6-38, four of them caught at slip or gully while pushing forward. Valentine is, of course, a slow left arm bowler with well over 100 test wickets to his credit although he failed to take a single wicket in this 1957 series.

Ganteaume and Asgarali began just after 4 PM. The former was missed at the wicket before tea which was taken when the score was 23. Both batsmen played plenty of strokes and put on 77 runs in 80 minutes. Then Asgarali was caught in the gully off Huey who was bowling very well on and outside the off stump. Alexander came in but at 94 Ganteaume was held at cover by Duffy, again off Huey. Pairaudeau came in and pushed his first ball to Warke. Walcott stopped the hat-trick but give a difficult slip chance of Huey before he scored. Walcott played some beautiful strokes but was not allowed to run riot by Kenny and Huey. He was 26 not out and Alexander 20 at the close of play.

The game was well placed and with Walcott not out a big crowd would have come on the second day. However, it was dismal and dull and in fact only 52 minutes play was possible. This was sufficient to bowl out the West Indies for 198. Granted, with rain about, they sought quick runs but the Irish bowlers, Kenny, Warke and Huey were equal to the situation. With five runs added Walcott hit across a ball from Kenny and was bowled. Sobers came in and played some beautiful wristy strokes wide of mid-on. At 153 Warke bowled Alexander. Kanhai came in and at 171 Sobers hit across Kenny and, like Walcott, was bowled. Atkinson came in to join Kanhai. 22 were added in 14 minutes and Huey had come on for Warke. The last four wickets fell in 10 balls, the seventh and eighth to Huey and the last 2 to Kenny. Huey's 5-46 represented very accurate bowling in 21 overs. Kenny's keen bowling of Walcott and Sobers was a fine achievement. The Irish fielding was excellent. Unfortunately rain set in at noon and no further play was possible.