T McCloy and R O'Brien were not available for this match. K Quinn cried off the selected team and was replaced by JR Notley a consistently high scorer for the Leinster Club, and a former Rugby International (like Quinn), for what transpired to be his only match for Ireland.

Worcestershire, with a full county team, easily won their first ever game against Ireland. The margin might have been smaller if a catch offered by Peter Richardson, when he was 21, had been accepted but this is in no way to detract from the overall superiority of the visitors. Included in the Worcestershire team were four test players. Peter Richardson, the captain and only amateur in the team, is a current England opening batsman; his brother, Derek, played for England as a batsman in 1957; Don Kenyon, a prolific scorer in county cricket, has opened for England several times and R Berry, then of Lancashire, toured Australia in 1950-51 as a slow left-arm bowler

As this was a two-day game, Ireland had dropped KW Hope in favour of AJ O'Riordan who is a better batsman but opens the bowling. O'Riordan had just turned 18 years of age and is tall and strong. A stylist, he batted very well and opened the bowling. He is fastish, left-arm, over the wicket.

On a sunny day Warke won his ninth successive toss. The wicket, however, was wet and dry so after only a very few overs the spinners, Horton (off-spin) and Berry, (left-arm) came on. The start was very slow, 13 in 40 minutes before Horton had Notley caught at short square leg for four. Neville arrived and hit three successive fours off Berry who was at once replaced by the fast bowler Pearson. Neville also hit him but as soon as Neville got to Horton's end he skied a catch to long-on. In between Bergin and Hunter had also both fallen to Horton. 41-4. Berry, who had been recalled, had Finlay stumped at the same total. At this stage young O'Riordan joined Warke and the only real stand of the innings happened. They stayed together until after lunch and put on 42. As 83 Warke was LBW to Horton. O'Riordan then hit Horton for 6 to square leg but, at 92, was well held at slip off Berry when attempting a late cut. Scott, at number 11, hit a huge six off Horton to bring 100 up. The innings total was 102 made in just under three hours. Horton took 7-54 in 29 overs and Berry 3-26 in 20.1 overs.

Kenyon and Outschoorn put on 27 sedate runs in 40 minutes and then, for a while, things went in Ireland's favour. Confusion over a run and a good return by Hunter led to Kenyon being run out. 27-1-20. At 30, Horton was caught at short square leg by Scott off Fee for 0. Derek Richardson hit a four and a six and 50 came up in 70 minutes. Outschoorn, however, was very slow but following a call from an irate spectator "to get on with it" he drove Huey into Bergin's hands at long-off. At 64 Derek Richardson was caught at the wicket off Fee and had Ireland got another wicket at that stage anything might have happened. As it was, no further wicket fell until 12:10 PM the following day. Peter Richardson, after a tired looking start (they had travelled overnight from Hove) and Dews took complete command and in 90 minutes added 97 runs. Dews made only 28 of these and, by close of play, Richardson was 71 not out. When he was 21 he drove a ball to Warke at short mid-off which would normally have been caught but, unfortunately, it was dropped. The Irish catching was not very good, four in all being dropped today. Huey and Fee had long spells but did not use the wicket as well as Berry and Horton before them.

In the morning the fifth wicket pair continued to score quickly and, in 40 minutes, had added 50 runs. Richardson came to 95 and then "was not at the pitch" of one from Fee and skied it to deep extra-cover where Hunter took a splendid catch. The left-handed Richardson batted for 130 minutes and used his famous three strokes, the extra-cover drive, the sweep and the "nudge". His running between the wickets with Dews was an education. There were six 3's in his 95. This wicket gave Fee 50 wickets for Ireland, the first purely post-war bowler to do so. There was a 20 minute break for rain and the innings continued until lunch when Dews was 86 not out. The Worcester lead was 151 and there were 4½ hours to go.

Ireland's first three wickets in the second innings fell for eight runs. Notley fell to Flavell's leg trap - and then Flavell was immediately taken off. Bergin rushed at Horton and was stumped at eight and Neville was caught by Coldwell off Berry at cover at the same score. Incidentally Bergin's score of six made his run aggregate for Ireland 1200, four runs more than James Macdonald and Bergin was now sixth in the list. Hunter and Warke, the former fighting to avoid "a pair", set about regaining lost ground. When the loose ball came both hit hard and Hunter's second scoring stroke was a fine six off Berry. 50 came up in 94 minutes and Peter Richardson gave himself seven overs of very slow off-spinners but neither player could be tempted. It was after 4 PM when Warke eventually got out for 30. Horton bowled a short ball which Warke pulled to square leg. It looked like a six but Flavell made ground and took the ball shoulder high on the boundary. At 78, two runs later, Hunter, who had survived one particularly good over from Berry, was caught at the wicket in the next. It was good to see young Hunter play such an innings of determination on a bowler's wicket.

After tea Berry and Horton very quickly disposed of all except O'Riordan. Scott was called upon to stop a hat-trick from Horton after Fee and Huey had gone to successive balls. O'Riordan was left five not out and, coupled with his 24 in the first innings, made a good debut. By watching the ball and moving his feet, he, Warke and Hunter proved that Horton (12-79 in the match) and Berry (7-62) were not unplayable.