With great ease Ireland retained the Intercontinental Cup, won in Namibia in the autumn of 2005. The scheduled four-day match finished on the second afternoon. This, in fact, was the final of the 2006 competition. The competition was now in its third year, Scotland being the first winners. The match was virtually over after the first day when Ireland led on first innings by 158 runs with seven wickets in hand. If the match were to be drawn, then the rules ordained that first innings lead would give the Cup to Ireland.

A simple account of the match was that Canada, put in, were bowled out for 92 in 31.4 overs. By the day's end Ireland were 250 for three wickets. On day two the fourth wicket stand was eventually broken at 297. Then Ireland lost their last six wickets in 11.4 overs for only a further 55 runs. In went Canada again at 3 p.m. with a deficit of 260 runs. In 36.5 overs they were out again for 145 and the match was over at 5 p.m. with two days to spare.

Ireland's bowling heroes were Johnston, in the first innings, and McCallan, in the second while the big runs came from Ireland's first three batsmen Bray 146 (and this won him the Man-of-the-Match award), Porterfield with 54 and Morgan with 84.

7 of the Irish team played in the previous Friends Provident match against Essex. Out went the two overseas players (not eligible) Hayward and Ryder as did Whelan and Carroll. In came Bray, McCallan, Morgan (released by Middlesex) and MJ Fourie, a South African residentially qualified and playing for Merrion. It was his first cap. N.O'Brien and Rankin were not released by their counties.

The entire square at Leicester was bright green with lush grass. The pitch was mowed tight but had plenty of green grass. It was dry, hard and flat. It in fact played slowly. The day was sunny and warm when Ireland won the toss and decided to field. At 11 a.m. Barnett, left-hand, and the well-known Davison opened for Canada to the bowling of Langford-Smith and Johnston. The first ball was a dot, the second a three to Barnett, while the third saw Davison lbw on the back foot. 3-1-0. The diminutive Samad was next. The only big score in the first three overs was a four byes which escaped Wilson. Three slips and a gully was the close field when Johnston struck in his second over. Barnett was lbw trying to turn the ball to leg. 11-2-4. Bagai, a century maker against Ireland in Nairobi, was next. He had taken over the captaincy of the Canadian team from Davison. He started well with a pulled four off Johnston and, next over, Samad scored two cover driven four's. Then Johnston struck again in over eight. The ball cut back a long way from off and hit Bagai's off stump. 23-3-4. Ali joined Samad in what turned out to be the best stand of the innings, 20 in just under five overs. 12 of the 20 came in fours, two to Samad in the cover region and one to Ali, a pull in Fourie's first over. Fourie, medium pace, replaced Langford-Smith for the 11th over.

Ali square cut the first ball of Fourie's second over, the 13th. The ball went downwards towards Porterfield's right at cover. He dived and caught it low, two-handed, to his right. This was a splendid catch by a wonderful fielder. 43-4-9. Mulla joined Samad who hit a four in Fourie's second and third overs, the second of which brought 50 up in over 15. Johnston continued to bowl and, in his eighth over, and the 16th, had Samad lbw, the third lbw in the first five wickets. 53-5-29. Samad's 29 came off 48 balls with six fours and was the highest score for Canada. Bhatti at number nine was the only other Canadian to reach double figures, 22 not out. Pillai came in at number seven but lost Mulla in the next over, the 17th. The last ball of this Fourie over cut back and bowled Mulla. Jyoti joined Pillai but survived only four balls. His fourth ball from Fourie, in over 19, kept low and bowled him. 57-7-0. Bhatti was number nine. There followed a slow 18 run stand in 51 balls, although in this stand four fours were hit, three to Bhatti, one a snick. Ireland used four bowlers in this eight over stand. Langford-Smith came back for Johnston, O'Brien came on and then changed ends to give McCallan one over before lunch. In fact McCallan bowled a maiden and there was time for two overs before lunch. The second of these overs was over 28. With the second ball of this over Pillai snicked O'Brien to Wilson. 75-8-5. Two balls later Codrington was caught by Morgan at fourth slip diving low to his right. 75-9-0. Before Osinde could come in lunch was taken with Bhatti 14 not out and the score 75 for nine in 27.4 overs.

The last pair lasted for exactly 7.4 overs after lunch and put on 17 runs. O'Brien finished his over to Osinde. Bhatti then hit Fourie for four in over 29. Over 31, again bowled by Fourie, gave up seven runs with a boundary to Osinde. The end came in over 32 when Johnston came back for O'Brien. Osinde skied his fourth ball to Fourie who caught it moving to his left to mid-off.

Ireland used five bowlers of whom McCallan bowled only one over, a maiden. Johnston had 4-12 in 9.4 overs, O'Brien 2-4 in four overs (two singles and two). Fourie had a good debut with the ball. His 3-31 came in eight overs. Despite only making 92 there were, in fact, 14 fours hit by Canada.

At 2 p.m. Bray and Porterfield began Ireland's reply. Their stand lasted 46 overs, put on 202 and became Ireland's second-highest stand from the first wicket. Only Warke and Rea, with 224 against Wales at College Park in 1992, stood above this Bray/Porterfield stand and a large bet would have been placed on that 224 being exceeded when the stand reached 200 in over 46. Then an old cricketing adage held good "one go they both go after a big stand". It proved so. They were both out within three balls. However when the end came 148 of the 202 had come in boundaries. This stand was also a record opening stand for any country in the Intercontinental Cup in the three years of its existence. Bray had made his seventh century for Ireland, to equal the 20 year old record of Ivan Anderson. Bray will soon surely be the first batsmen to reach eight centuries for Ireland.

The opening bowlers for Canada were Osinde, fast right arm and the left-arm medium paced Bhatti. Both had three slips and a gully. Only two singles came in the first four overs. Then each batsman hit a four, Porterfield's being all run. In over eight the latter had two successive fours, one of the back foot past mid-off and then a clip to square leg. Bhatti changed ends and Codrington, medium paced, came on. Bray joined the boundary quest with three fours and a six from overs 8 to 13. The 6 was off Codrington, a pull to wide long-on. 50 was up in over 15 in which Bray hit Bhatti for three fours, to mid-wicket, a slash to third man and a square cut. Osinde then came back and Samad, slow medium, came on. Bray went to 50 in over 18 in 55 balls with no less than 42 of his runs in boundaries. In Samad's first over, the 17th, Bray may have been missed at the wicket when 49. Bray got to exactly 50 at 66 when Porterfield was 15 although the balls faced by each of them were almost equal. Canada changed the bowlers rapidly and Davison, off spin, came on at 89 for over 24. In the last over before tea, the 25th, Ireland took the lead. The tea score was 97 for no wicket, Bray 71 Porterfield 24 off 25 overs. The rules demanded 96 overs to be bowled per day. Canada batted 32, Ireland 25 to date and two overs were added for the innings change. So after tea 37 more overs were required.

Ali, medium, and Bhatti bowled after tea. 100 was up in over 26. Six overs later the score was 134 in which period Bray had hit six fours, his only scoring strokes in this period, and Porterfield two. For over 35 Osinde returned for Bhatti. A square cut four took Bray to 101 out of 147 in 112 balls with 1 six and 19 fours. 82 out of 101 in boundaries is a very high percentage. Two more fours came to Bray in over 37 and brought up 150. Davison returned for the 42nd over and Bray hit two successive fours. With a drive wide of mid-off off Davison, Porterfield went to 51 at 191 off 120 balls. He hit 1 6 (his first six for Ireland) and 7 4's. In over 46 from Davison, Bray hit a two and a four to wide fine leg to bring up 202. Next ball Bray was out. He edged a very wide ball and was caught by the only slip. 202-1-146. His 152 balls faced gave him a rate of just over a run a ball. He hit a six and no less than 27 fours and was in for 179 minutes. 114 out of 146 in boundaries is a massive percentage.

Morgan came in and faced the last ball of Davison's over. The next ball, the first of Samad's next over, the 47th, Porterfield nibbled and was caught at the wicket. 202-2-54. Porterfield's innings had lasted 125 balls and contained one six and seven fours. Gillespie was next and he snicked a four off his third ball. The scoring slowed and this pair put on 28 runs in 52 balls, Gillespie getting 18 of these by means of four fours and a two. Then, in over 55, Gillespie fell across his wicket and was lbw to Samad. 230-3-18. With seven overs left O'Brien joined Morgan. Three maidens followed. Then O'Brien hit Davison for 2-6-4 off successive balls, the six contained four overthrows. At 6:18 p.m. Ali bowled the last over of the day to Morgan who hit the second ball for four. At the close the score was 250-3, Morgan 17, O'Brien 13, scored in 62 overs, a rate almost exactly 4 runs per over. The Irish lead was 158.

Day 2 was very sunny and warm with no breeze. Ireland probably had two options in mind, bat to at least tea and gain a lead of 400 or go on to lunch on the third day and give the bowlers five sessions to win the match. Cricket, being unpredictable, neither option happened! For 21 overs Morgan and O'Brien continued and added 47 runs in this period to the bowling of Osinde, Bhatti, Samad and Codrington. The start was quiet but each batsman hit a four in the first seven overs. O'Brien added fours in overs 75 and 77. The new ball was taken for over 81 with the score on 286. It certainly worked. In 15 overs from Osinde and Bhatti Ireland were all out for 352 but at least 66 runs were scored in those 15 overs even if six wickets fell.

After 81 overs both Morgan and O'Brien were 35. O'Brien did not add to that mark but Morgan got 49 of the 66 scored to the end. O'Brien had hit a four to long-off in Bhatti's first over with the new ball, the 81st. In Bhatti's next over O'Brien moved his front foot too far across and was lbw. 297-4-35. He had faced 81 balls and hit five fours. White came in. In over 84 Morgan hit Osinde for a four to extra cover to bring up the 300. In over 85 Bhatti produced a feat rarely seen in the history of first-class cricket, a hat-trick of lbws. White had faced one ball in over 84. Morgan took a single off the first ball of Bhatti's next over and watched on as the next three balls had White, Wilson and Fourie all lbw. All moved in, missed and were out and no doubt about the decisions given by umpire Baldwin from Germany. In 11 balls Ireland's 297-3 had become 303-7 and Bhatti had four lbw wickets in five balls extending over two overs. Fourie had an unfortunate batting debut, being the third victim of a hat-trick. This was the ninth hat-trick in all against Ireland. It was the fourth achieved in the last 22 years. Le Roux did it for Sussex at Hove in 1985, and Gough for Yorkshire at Headingly in 1997. Both of these were in limited overs matches. Also in 1997 N.A.Foster did it for MCC at Lord's.

Johnston survived the fifth ball of this Bhatti over and hit two off the sixth ball. Morgan played over 86 as a maiden but was lucky when a snick did not carry to third slip. In Bhatti's next over Morgan hit a three to take him to 50 at 309 off 128 balls with six fours. In over 89 Morgan hit Bhatti for a straight four and then snicked another past his leg stump. In over 90 Johnston hit Osinde for a four past third man and was bowled two balls later. 324-8-9. At this point, with one ball left in the over, lunch was taken with Morgan on 59.

Mulla replaced Bagai as wicketkeeper and five overs after lunch Ireland were all out. McCallan faced nine balls after lunch and was then caught at fourth slip pushing at the ball which came off the face of the bat. 330-9-2. Morgan did his best to protect Langford-Smith by refusing singles. They put on 22 in 17 balls with Langford-Smith scoring one run in five balls. Meanwhile Morgan went in search of his century. He was 63 when McCallan was out. He scored an aerial four to mid-wicket off Bhatti in over 93. In Osinde's next over, with seven men on the boundary, he hit a six to long leg and, with a good swing, a four to fine leg.

Bhatti continued with over 95. Langford-Smith got away from strike off the first ball. Morgan hit a "pick-up" six off the third. He drove at the next ball and was caught very well at wide mid-off, low, and diving to the right. His 84 occupied 183 minutes. He faced 156 balls with two sixes and 10 fours. It was a fine innings by a player who had made 100 at a run-a-ball for Middlesex three days earlier. The last six Irish batsmen had contributed 12 between them, of which Johnston had scored nine. Canada bowled 94.4 overs and used six bowlers. Bhatti was the best with figures of 22.4-5-85-5. Others to do well were Osinde, 2-81 in 24 overs and Samad, 2-71 in 18 overs.

Canada went in again at 2:10 p.m. needing to score 261 to make Ireland bat again. 61 overs were left today with two more days and 192 more overs left in the match. They did better than in the first innings, but not by all that much. In 154 minutes and 36.5 overs they were all out for 145 to lose by an innings and 115 runs.

Langford-Smith opened the bowling with four slips and a gully. Davison hit a two and then a four to extra. This time Barnett was the first to go. In Langford-Smith's second over Barnett nibbled at a ball near the stumps and Wilson caught it low to his right. 7-1-1. Samad saw Davison hit two fours in Johnston's second over, a cover drive and a shot to third man and another to long leg in Langford-Smith's third over. In the sixth over Samad hit Johnston for a straight four and was lbw next ball. He stepped in to glance and missed. 26-2-7. Bagai, the captain, joined the usually aggressive Davison. Bagai drove his first ball for four to extra cover. In the next three overs Davison hit fours to long-on and extra-cover. In over 10 he drove at Johnston, missed and was bowled. 41-3-28. Mulla came in and was sixth out at 114 having made 48, the highest match score for Canada by a margin of 19 runs. A straight four by Bagai in over 12 brought up 50. Fourie came on for Langford-Smith for over 13 and Bagai square cut a four. It was his last scoring stroke. Three overs later, in Johnston's eight, he was caught by O'Brien at third slip. 58-4-13. Ali was next. In Johnston's ninth and last over Mulla hit fours to mid-wicket and in the air to long-off. Langford-Smith came back after three Fourie overs. Ali hooked a four and Langford-Smith broke down with leg trouble after five balls with Bray completing the over. Fourie bowled one over to replace Johnston. McCallan replaced Langford-Smith for over 21. The last ball had Ali lbw. 81-5-6. Tea was then taken with Mulla 25 not out, which contained five fours.

After tea Pillai partnered Mulla. McCallan bowled to the end and took four more wickets, giving him his second five wicket haul for Ireland. Johnston bowled three more overs, the first two for one run, the third for eight as both batsmen took fours. In McCallan's fourth over Mulla hit two sixes. The first was high over mid wicket and went out of the ground and was lost. This brought up 100 in over 27. The second 6, four balls later, went to a wider mid wicket area. In his next over, the 29th, McCallan had his revenge when Mulla gave him a tame return catch. 114-6-48. Mulla's innings lasted 55 balls and contained two sixes and seven fours. Jyoti was next and in five overs faced only eight balls before he was out. O'Brien replaced Johnston. Pillai hit a four off each bowler. In over 34 O'Brien put in the third slip and Jyoti guided the second ball to him. 127-7-2. Bhatti hit a four off his second ball and these were the only runs scored for the eighth wicket. In over 35 McCallan bowled Pillai who drove at the ball. 131-8-20.

Bhatti and Codrington both hit fours in O'Brien's next over. McCallan's next over, the 37th, was the last. Its third ball bowled Codrington who came down late on the ball. 141-9-4. Osinde then hit his first ball for four. His second was hit to long-on where White took a tumbling catch. It was 5 p.m. and only 37 of the 61 overs available had been used.

McCallan had 5-34 in 8.5 overs. It was his 165th match and his wicket tally was now 185, this to go with his recently achieved 3000 runs. Johnston had 3-47 in 12 overs. He now has 89 wickets at 23.48. Having got 1000 runs in the recent match against Hampshire, Johnston will soon become the ninth Irish player to achieve the 1000 run and 100 wicket double.

Ireland will begin to defend the Intercontinental Cup and, hopefully, achieve a hat trick of wins with matches in Ireland against Scotland and Bermuda in August. The format for 2007 has changed. There is one worldwide tournament of eight teams, all playing each other in a round-robin with a final between first and second in the league.