The 48th match against Scotland gave the visitors their 16th win to Ireland's 13. The wicket began to wear from the first afternoon and this was a good toss for Scotland to win. Ireland batted badly and if Monteith had bowled better for Ireland in Scotland's second innings the Irish target might be much smaller. With Ridley (unavailable) and R Harrison (injured) Ireland brought in J Harrison (a new cap and a brother of R Harrison) and brought back PJ Dineen who could not play in the last match of 1968 due to injury. Scotland had their usual experienced team. Brown, Barr, Allan and Chisholm have 235 caps between them. Chisholm had played 75 times and in every match for Scotland against Ireland since 1948 - 19 in all, a record. Ireland appointed DE Goodwin as captain in place of IJ Anderson. Goodwin had been captain of the successful North Leinster team in the Guinness Cup. D Fraser cried off the Scottish team and was replaced by PA Rhind who had not played against Ireland before.

Chisholm and Steele began well for Scotland. O'Riordan bowled 10 overs for 15 runs. Hughes came on for him when the score was 39. He overpitched to start but in his third over Chisholm got one that "stopped" and was caught and bowled. First ball of his next over Zuill was caught at leg slip. Steele and Laing put on 29 but in his eighth over Hughes had Steele caught at slip. Racionzer came in and Goodwin dropped at slip off Hughes, from a full toss. At lunch the score was 93-3. Monteith got the next wicket when Hughes caught Racionzer at first slip. 110-4. Laing, meanwhile, had been playing some good strokes. He reached 54 in 80 minutes but, at 123, he mistimed Monteith and Goodwin caught him at short extra cover. Goodwin came back in place of Monteith at 138 and had Barr caught at the wicket off his second ball. Allan and Brown now proceeded to take Scotland into safer waters. Allan was dour and Brown, as usual, was brisk. Goodwin went off and Duffy had a bowl. At tea the score was 177-6.

Duffy and Hughes resumed the bowling after tea. The new ball was due (85 overs) but not taken. In the 90th over Duffy bowled Brown for 33. Hughes was expensive at the other end but Duffy bowled 10 overs for only five runs. Goddard and Allan added 32. Finally O'Riordan and Goodwin came back with the new ball after 96 overs. Goodwin took the last three wickets including that of Allan (52 in three hours) and Scotland were all out for 238.

Ireland had to bat for 48 minutes and lost three wickets for 43. Waters hit Thompson's first ball for four and was generally very aggressive. He was 27 not out at the close. Barr bowled Pigot when the total was 12. J Harrison, in his first match, shaped well. Chisholm came on after 10 overs. In his second over Harrison played no shot and was bowled by a googly. Anderson went in to face the last ball of the day. Was it wise to send a player of his temperament in at this point? The ball pitched outside his leg stump. Anderson swept at it, got a top edge and was caught at gully.

Play resumed at noon on Sunday. Duffy was caught at slip off Barr at 52 and O'Riordan was LBW to Chisholm's googly at 63. Dineen was next and he played very well. Waters had been dropped earlier by Brown off Chisholm. Thomson came back for Barr and bowled Waters with the score on 82. Hughes came in to join Dineen. Both played well and put on 62 together in 93 minutes straddling the lunch interval. The bowlers were switched and it was finally Allan (slow left arm) and Goddard (off spin) who ended the innings. They ended it without another run being added, 144-6 becoming 144 all out. In successive overs Allan took three wickets with Goddard taking the ninth wicket in between. Hughes was caught at deep mid-off for 35, Dineen at wide mid-on for 40 (scored in 140 minutes), Goodwin fell to Goddard at short square leg and Monteith was bowled.

At 3:52 PM Scotland went in for a second time leading by 94. Surprisingly Hughes opened the bowling with Goodwin. Off Hughes Steele was dropped by Monteith at slip. Soon Monteith and O'Riordan were sharing the bowling and they did so until the end of the day. As to that point Scotland were 98-7 in 168 minutes. Monteith was spinning the ball a lot but bowled badly. His worst fault was bowling too many balls that the batsmen could let go past. O'Riordan was magnificent at the other end. Keeping the ball a little short he bowled 24 overs for 14 runs and took four wickets. From the 12th over to the 23rd inclusive he conceded no runs at all. When the score was 33 O'Riordan bowled Chisholm. Harrison dropped Steele off Monteith, a simple catch at extra cover. At 39 he made up for his error by catching Steele in the same place. At 49 Zuill was LBW to Monteith and Laing was LBW to O'Riordan. Allan hit Monteith for four fours but Monteith bowled Racionzer at 79 and, one run later, O'Riordan had Barr caught at the wicket. Allan batted 74 minutes, scored 26 including six fours. At 93 O'Riordan had him LBW. Brown, 12, and Goddard, 1, were not out overnight.

Rain during the night delayed the third today's start by an hour. The wicket was now soft. It was still taking spin but was much slower and easier to bat on. Scotland added 34 in 38 minutes without loss and then declared. O'Riordan had bowled 30 overs for 27 runs and taken four wickets.

Ireland's target was 227 in 207 minutes, a rate much faster than anything achieved in the match to date. Ireland had little chance, but Scotland might have given themselves more bowling time. There were nine overs to lunch, bowled by Thompson, Barr and Rhind (one). Waters had a leg strain and used Hughes as a runner. 48 runs were scored by aggressive hitting. Pigot, 25 (including three fours off Rhind's only over of the match before lunch) and Waters 21. Allan was Barr's partner after lunch. Allan bowled 23 successive overs and took 3-41. In Allan's second over Pigot tried to hit him to leg and skied the ball to the wicket-keeper. 48-1. Waters was dropped by Rhind at deep mid-off from the bowling of Allan. He and Harrison added 23 in 30 minutes. Goddard came on. With the sun shining the ball was now spinning a lot but it was not fizzing. Waters, hampered by his leg, swung at Goddard and was bowled at 71. At 73 Harrison scooped a dolly catch to silly mid-off from the bowling of Allan. At 90 Dineen reached out at Goddard and was caught at slip. These two catches were held by Keith Hardie fielding as substitute. Anderson, at number four, batted perfectly for 96 minutes. He used his feet well and scored 40 not out but eventually lost all his partners. O'Riordan swept Allan to Thompson at mid-wicket with the total at 105. Chisholm had come on with the score at 99. In his fifth over both Duffy and Hughes "smeared" his leg spinner to second slip. 109-7. Monteith and Anderson scored 14 together. Goddard came back for Chisholm and bowled Monteith in his first over. Goodwin came in and 21 were added. Chisholm came back again. His first ball bowled Goodwin around his legs and Colhoun was bowled by the third ball, offering no stroke. Ireland were all out and there were 45 minutes to spare. In the match Chisholm had 7-30 in 17.3 overs of leg-spinners and googlies.