Scotland had a depleted team. Four of the five batsmen were new to this match. They were DBS Brown, DP Peden, EC Reoch and TW Porteous (whose first cap this was). None would have played if B Hardie; T Racionzer; R Ellis or JR Laing had been available. For Ireland Duffy replaced Dineen (his substitute at Lord's). Ireland used only 12 players in the four matches.
Friday was very wet in Cork so that play could not start until 2 PM on Saturday due to wet creases and surrounding areas. Play was extended for half an hour to compensate. Ireland won the toss and, one felt, this was half way to winning the match. Scotland's 1973 record was poor. Three defeats, MCC, Essex and Warwickshire, and a draw against New Zealand.
In hot sun Pigot and O'Brien opened steadily in damp conditions. The ball was hard to get away. In the sixth over Pigot slashed at a wide half volley from Robertson and was well caught low and to the left by Goddard at gully. 6-1-4. O'Brien scored two boundaries off successive balls in Thompson's next over. Harrison snicked a Thompson no-ball to Brown at the wicket. He dropped it so Harrison was doubly lucky. After an hour Clark came on for Robertson and O'Brien was nearly caught at gully first ball. Goddard, off spin, came on at 41. He had scored a century (at number nine!) against MCC earlier in the year and had taken 11 wickets. Last year he took eight wickets in 10 overs against Ireland at Greenock. Hardie, left arm, appeared at 45. More, at leg slip, caught Harrison off Goddard's third ball. 41-2-9. Harrison had pulled a stomach muscle and was in some discomfort. O'Brien and Anderson took the score to 70 at tea in 135 minutes. The fourth ball after tea accounted for O'Brien. He had scored 45 with eight fours. He drove at Hardie and was caught chest high at extra-cover. The wicket was getting quicker as O'Riordan joined Anderson. Anderson was in good form and hit four fours. Neither spinner was bowling particularly well but suddenly both batsmen were out. At 100, O'Riordan (eight) misdrove Hardie to deep extra cover but at 104, Anderson (34) moved out to Goddard, did not get to the pitch of the ball, and was caught at deep mid-on. Harte and Monteith retrieved the position with a stand of 43 of which Monteith made 26. Harte was slow to get going and was stuck at Goddard's end. When he faced Hardie he was dropped at slip and gully off successive balls when only one. Then he settled down and played some good shots. At 132 Monteith waltzed down to Goddard, missed, and Brown dropped the ball. At 147 Goddard had his revenge when Monteith was caught at deep mid-wicket. 147-6-26. Harte now struck Goddard for two sixes to wide long on and was dropped in between them by the fielder on the boundary. Thompson came back at 150 for Hardie and he yorked Duffy at 175. Hardie came on for Thompson again at 186 and Goodwin skied him to mid-on at 187. At 191, with only seven minutes to go, Harte was beaten and bowled by Hardie for 40. A valuable if lucky innings. With Elder and Colhoun in at the end the score was 192 for nine off 92 overs. This was slow going but a good score had been built.
The Ireland team
Next morning was overcast with a heavy dew. Ireland declared but there was a good case for batting on until the ground dried. Hardie had been Scotland's best bowler, taking 4-62 in 28 overs. In the wet conditions D Brown and More were away at a great rate for Scotland. They put on 99 in 102 minutes. The faster bowlers bowled 18 overs and conceded 67 runs. Brown, a left-hander, thumped a series of fours with good shots and in one over hit Goodwin for 10. 51 came up in 55 minutes in the 15th over. Monteith came on at 51 and slowed Brown down a little. However he arrived at 50 in 75 minutes out of 77 in the 21st over. More, meanwhile, played steadily but gave Duffy a sharp chance at gully off Monteith at 67 when 21. Duffy came on to bowl at 79. The ball was now drier and the rate slowed. Harrison retired and John Whittaker from Cork came out to field. At 99 Brown skied Duffy to short square leg and was out for 58 (eight fours). Five minutes before lunch Reoch lobbed Duffy back over his head. The bowler turned and took a good catch with hands outstretched. 100-2-0. Lunch came with the score on 101-2, More 40 and Peden one.
Suddenly after lunch Monteith took 3-0 in nine balls. A hot sun was now quickening the wicket. More got one that turned and Duffy caught it at gully at the second attempt. 102-3-40. At 104 Porteous was LBW to Monteith's arm ball for 0 and, next ball, J.Brown snicked over Duffy's head at second slip. O'Riordan came from first slip and caught it low and right-handed at the third attempt. Goddard made seven before he, too, fell LBW to Monteith's arm ball at 116. Peden and Hardie added 17 before Monteith caught Hardie at leg slip off Duffy. At 143 Peden, in 95 minutes for 13, was caught at first slip by O'Riordan off Monteith. This gave Monteith his fifth wicket in an innings for the sixth time in seven innings this summer. He increased this number to 7 when Thompson was caught at deep mid-on off a skier and Robertson gave O'Riordan his third slip catch of the innings. Despite Scotland's good start Ireland had kept pressure on them and led by 38. Duffy's 3-43 in 30 overs was splendid bowling.
Tea was now taken and Ireland had 125 minutes to bat. They did badly. Pigot was out first ball - a long hop from Thompson which hit his gloves and went to first slip. Surprisingly Harrison went in despite his injury. Goddard came on at seven for the eighth over and Hardie at eight for the 11th over. This was a crucial time. Scoring was slow only nine coming in 40 minutes. Then Harrison advanced to Goddard and hit him into the Sundays Well tennis courts at long on. O'Brien swept Goddard to square leg for four but edged the next to More at leg slip who took it, tumbling, at the third attempt. 25-2-14. At 29 Harrison lunged at Hardie and was caught low down by More who was now at first slip. 29-3-9. At 41 Harte stretched too far forward to Hardie and lobbed a catch to Porteous at old-fashioned point. 41-4-3. O'Riordan was nearly caught one-handed at mid-wicket at 42 and was bowled by Goddard playing a poor shot at 48. Then came Monteith.
He hit the last ball (his first) of Goddard's over for two. Anderson played a maiden from Hardie. Then Monteith hit Goddard for 15 - two fours, a six and a single. His first four would have been a catch at deep square leg if the fielder had stayed where he was put, on the line. Monteith now faced Hardie and scored a four and a single off the first two balls of the over. Then Goddard again. First ball - a six to wide long on, then two, then another six into the tennis court over long on. The fourth ball was not scored off. The fifth was a 6 to wide mid-wicket and the sixth another two. 22 in the over. Anderson played another maiden from Hardie and Goddard came off at 92 having 2-76 (!) in 14 overs. Clark now bowled and Monteith drove his first ball for three. Anderson then scored a single to break Monteith's monopoly of scoring which had been 47 out of 47. Monteith got a single off the last ball and then hit three in Hardie's next over to take him to 51 out of 52 in 22 minutes of 25 balls. At this point, with 12 minutes to go, Monteith's sensibility eased down and he was not out 56 at the end. He had hit four sixes, three fours and only 3 singles in 34 minutes. Anderson must not be forgotten. He came in at 25 for two and was 15 not out at the close - a valuable and sensible innings. The score was 106-5, a lead of 144.
On a sunny Monday morning the fortune lever moved again. With Thompson hurt Scotland used seamers Robertson and Clark. The wicket had a little early morning life and the ball was hard to get away. Off the first ball of the day's second over Anderson was caught at the wicket cutting at a short ball from Clark. 107-6-15. At 109 Duffy pushed forward at the wrong line from Robertson and was bowled for one. In the same over Goodwin was bowled by a full toss which he snicked onto the wicket. Monteith played quietly and it was Elder who hit the day's first boundary. Then, at 118, Clark bowled Elder for 5. Enter the faithful Colhoun at 118-9, only 156 on. If ever Colhoun's propping was needed it was here. He did not fail. He and Monteith added 27 priceless runs for the last wicket in 38 minutes. Monteith got 19 of these including three more fours. Hardie came on but was Clark finally induced Monteith to miss it to mid-on at 145. This morning Monteith scored 22 in 80 minutes, altogether 78 in 114 minutes. It was his first score of 50 since his first innings for Ireland at Lord's in 1955. It incidentally carried him to the top of Ireland's batting averages for 1973 with an average of 51.
At 1 PM Scotland set out after 184 to win in 270 minutes. Brown again swished away and was lucky enough to get a touch several times. Monteith came on for the eighth over with the score on 14. The lunch score was 18, Brown seven More 11. Duffy came on at once after lunch and, in his second over, More "shovelled" one into Colhoun's hands on the leg side. 18-1-11. Peden came in and was dropped by Colhoun off Duffy, a simple chance when Peden was one and the total 32. To celebrate Peden hit Duffy for six five minutes later. At 49, just when a wicket was needed, Monteith turned one in at Brown as he drove at and sticked onto his wicket. 49-2-23. Peden, joined by Reoch, hit Monteith for two fours in one over. The big danger was that Monteith would tire after his hard work throughout the match. At 68 Peden edged Monteith to Colhoun. His 31 had one six and six fours. Porteous came in in his first match for Scotland on a "pair". He got off the mark but in 20 minutes only six were scored. Then Reoch snicked a fast straight ball from Monteith. The ball flew to O'Riordan's left-hand at first slip and he caught it. 75-4-7. Goddard came in to join Porteous and together they put on 24. Goddard gave Duffy a sharp chance at second slip which went down at 83. At 88 Anderson replaced Duffy. He bowled two maidens. Then in his third over Porteous took one step to him, swung, and was bowled. 99-5-18. In the same over Hardie gave Pigot a highly sharp chance at short square leg. 100 came in 140 minutes and tea was taken at 111-5, Goddard nine and Hardie one. 73 more were needed.
Suddenly after tea the innings subsided. At 119 Goddard was caught low at first slip by O'Riordan off Monteith for 18. In the next over Anderson bowled Hardie pushing forward and Brown played on. The score was now 124-8. Three overs later Robertson was LBW to Anderson - the ball striking him rather high. But he ended the innings in the next over when Clark was caught at short fine leg by the substitute Whittaker. There were 80 minutes left. Monteith had 5-57 in 32.3 overs, Duffy 1-30 in 19 overs and Anderson, spinning the ball a lot, 4-12 in 12 overs.
Jimmy Brown, Scotland's captain and wicket-keeper, announced his retirement. This was his 85th cap since 1953 and he had been captain since 1960. A presentation of Waterford Glass was made to him by the Irish players after the match. For Ireland OD Colhoun was playing his 61st match to break the record of JC Boucher of 60 caps. It was also Colhoun's 50th match in succession since 1962.