A cricket carnival, the likes of which had not been seen since South Africa played in College Park in 1951. West Indies came to Rathmines the day after winning the Third Test at Old Trafford and taking a 1-0 lead in the series. They had won 11 and drawn four of 15 first class matches. The captain, Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharan and the two leading fast bowlers, Roberts and Holding did not come to Ireland at all. Of the 13 who did come R Fredericks and WW Daniel were left out. In the side were CG Greenidge, who had scored a century in each innings at Old Trafford and who scored 117 and 60 at Rathmines; IVA Richards, who failed twice at Rathmines, but who scored over 1300 runs in his last nine tests, including 232 at Trent Bridge and 135 at Old Trafford; CL King who made his Test debut as Old Trafford; DL Murray, who captained the team at Rathmines and who played in Ireland on the 1963 visit and AL Padmore, an off spinner, who had also played as Old Trafford. These five were from the current Test Team. The other six were LG Rowe, who began his test career with a double century and a single century in the same match against New Zealand in Jamaica and who scored 302 in one innings against England in 1973-74; RR Jumadeen, a slow left armer, who had played in the second test at Lords; HA Gomes, who had played but failed in the first two tests but who is having a great tour as a batsman; TM Findlay, who kept wicket and was the only survivor of the team that was bowled out for 25 at Sion Mills; BD Julien, an all rounder who had made a century on his test debut at Lords in 1973 and VA Holder, an experienced fast bowler with 87 test wickets.

Ireland retained GP O'Brien after his splendid debut against Holland. O'Riordan and Short came back for Parker and Pigot. In a two-day match of this type, the team could have done with an extra batsman at the expense of one of the bowlers.

Rothmans gave £1500 as a sponsorship fee. RTE did live coverage for 8 hours of the 12 (commentators Fred Cogley and Derek Scott) and gave a £600 fee. The packed ground (2500 people) produced a £750 gate on the first day and £320 on the second. Pre-sale of tickets brought in £300. £1000 profit was made on a brochure plus £250 sales. For this brochure Conor O'Brien did the editorial work and HD Cashel led a splendid team of advertisement hunters. Expenses to West Indies were £1200+ a £500 match fee. In all a profit of over £2000 was made - a record.

Ireland won the toss at noon but, as is usual in this type of match, West Indies batted first. In 60.4 overs in 181 minutes they made 333-7! Greenidge and Rowe led the first onslaught, particularly the former. He hit Corlett for four fours in Corlett's first two overs and Rowe struck Torrens for two fours in his first over. 50 came up in the eighth over after 25 minutes. Greenidge hit both Corlett and Torrens for six, the second taking him to 53 out of 91 after 14 overs. Monteith replaced Corlett and bowled a maiden to Rowe. 100 came up in 56 minutes in the 18th over. O'Riordan came on for Torrens. Rowe was dismissed at 106 when O'Riordan bowled him with a full toss when he had made 37. Monteith was now bowling very steadily. Richards faced only four balls before snicking Monteith to O'Brien at slip. Gomes was next. Greenidge was still scoring quickly but Monteith had put a break on the scoring rate. Halliday replaced O'Riordan. When he was 85 (and the total 138) Greenidge was missed at short gully - a sharp chance off Monteith. Greenidge launched an attack in Halliday's fifth over hitting three successive fours. The first took him to 102 out of 159 in 98 minutes.

In Monteith's next over Greenidge hit his third six and was then caught by Harrison in the outfield. 174-3-170. He hit three sixes and 19 fours in a most magnificent batting display. It lasted 103 minutes and he faced 120 deliveries. King was next in, and his innings lasted only one over! He hit Halliday for 4-4-6-4-6 (into the road) and was magnificently caught one-handed by Torrens off the sixth ball. The catch was almost in front of the score box. Anderson was tried and Gomes hit him for six just before lunch. 200 had come up in the 35th over in 111 minutes The lunch score, after two hours, was 217-4, Gomes 29 and Murray one. After lunch, in one hour and 21.4 overs, a further 116 runs were added. Gomes hit Anderson for three fours in the first over. Then, at 234 he skied Monteith to deep midwicket where Harrison took a good catch. 234-5-45.

In came Julien and the next wicket added 52, 35 of them to Julien who hit seven fours and one six! He assaulted all the bowlers and was only in for 21 minutes. He was bowled by Monteith at 286. With Findlay in Murray took over. 47 were added in 32 minutes. Findlay hit an enormous six on to the squash court roof. Murray went to his 50 and in all batted 71 minutes for 52 not out. On Findlay's dismissal (another good catch by Harrison) Murray declared at 333-7. Monteith merged with much praise and 5-98 of 23.4 overs. He had 4-65 of his first 20 overs - good bowling indeed.

Ireland started at 3:52 PM and were all out in only 28 overs. Holder, a fast medium, bowled unchanged from the Rathmines end and took 8-22, the best eight ever against Ireland. His swing and leg cutters were too much for the batsmen but it must be said that three of the first six were out carelessly. When only one Short got a vicious leg cutter and was caught at slip. 14-1-1. Reith was dropped at slip by Greenidge off Julien who was having trouble with his run-up and was no-balling. At 27 Harrison got another fine leg cutter and was caught up the wicket. Two balls later Anderson attempted a hook off a ball that was not short enough and he skied to the wicket keeper. Padmore replaced Julien. Reith hit his second ball for four. He chased the next one very wide and was caught at slip by Greenidge. 33-4-18. At this point tea was taken.

O'Riordan, in Holder's next over, seemed to be letting a lifter ago when he dabbed it to the wicket keeper. Corlett hit a four and then he, too, was caught at the wicket. 39-6-4. In Holders eighth over, O'Brien slashed at him and Murray, gully, took a brilliant diving catch. 40-7-1. Holder had now taken six wickets in his last five overs. He bowled Torrens, also with the total on 40. Monteith and Halliday then made a good stand of 16. Jumadeen came on and Monteith hit three fours in his 15 before becoming Findlay's fifth victim for Holder. After a few more overs of defence Halliday was caught but 12 had been added for the last wicket. There were only 18 scoring shots in the innings and extras were top score with 23, of which 15 were no-balls. Holder, on a damp wicket from rain the previous day, was devastating.

With 44 minutes to play West Indies sportingly went in again. They scored 92-2 off 12 overs! Greenidge hit Torrens for 15 in his first over, including a no-ball for 6 on to the road. Torrens conceded 33 in only three overs and gave way to Monteith. Rowe hit six fours in his first 26 runs but by then Greenidge was 32! 50 came up in 5.5 overs in 23 minutes. Greenidge took 10 off a Corlett over. At 71 Corlett bowled Rowe for 26 and Padmore came in and Corlett bowled him of a no-ball. The last over of the day was bowled by Monteith. Off the first ball O'Riordan dropped Greenidge at mid-off. The second was hit for four and the third for six over extra cover. This made Greenidge 54 in 43 minutes He broke his bat playing this shot. The fourth ball went for four byes and the fifth was hoisted onto the roof of the beer tent at the Mount Pleasant end. Greenidge went far down the wicket to the sixth and was stumped. 92-2-60. This ended the day's play, and 493 runs were scored in six hours.

Due to rain over-night play started 26 minutes late, despite a huge tarpaulin cover. 29 minutes play was possible before rain came on and West Indies declared. In that time two more wickets fell and 26 runs were added. Richards failed for the second time, skying Torrens to mid-off. 99-3-5. At 104 Corlett bowled Padmore. Findlay and Holder were together when the rain came.

Lunch was taken early and Reith and Short set off after 380 (!) At 2:18 PM. Julien bowled from Holder's end. The latter bowled four overs at half pace for 20 runs and gave way to King. Julien's first ball bowled Short who played forward halfheartedly. Short had his first failure for Ireland scoring only one run in two innings. Reith and Harrison then had a fine aggressive stand of 44 in only 38 minutes. The fielders were clustered around the bat for most of the innings so that any well struck ball went for runs. Reith hit Holder for three fours but in Julien's six over he was bowled by a straight one which he played carelessly. 44-2-21. In came Anderson and he stood on "a pair" for 17 minutes! Then Gomes replaced Julien. Anderson hit him for two fours and was away on one of his finest innings. Harrison had been going along quite aggressively. He then hit Gomes for a four and a six and had reached 37 in 62 minutes with only one single. In the same over Gomes got one to lift and Harrison was caught at slip. 73-3-37.

Padmore came on and Anderson began to open out. He hit six successive fours, mostly off Gomes. The last went to square leg where Holder almost caught it. Jumadeen, whom the drying wicket suited, replaced Gomes. O'Riordan, lunging forward towards mid-on, was caught at slip off Jumadeen with the total on 103-4. O'Brien came in and saw Anderson strike some of those six successive fours. At tea (taken at 4:15 PM) the score was 125-4, Anderson 48, O'Brien five. Richards bowled after tea - off breaks. In his first over Anderson went to 50 in 76 minutes. Both players were severe on Richards who conceded 28 runs in five overs. In 10 overs 45 were added. Then, on the stroke of 5 PM, Anderson threw away his century. He raced at Jumadeen, head in the air, and was stumped. His splendid 79 came in 98 minutes off 123 balls. He hit a six and 14 fours. Anderson's dismissal was the beginning of a total collapse. King came on and O'Brien played on cutting at the ball too near him. 170-6-19. O'Brien's 19 in an hour was good support for Anderson. At 173 Monteith and Torrens were both caught in the same over from Jumadeen. Corlett was out in Kings next over and Halliday hoisted a caught and bowled to Jumadeen in the next over. In 6.4 overs the last six wickets fell for five runs. A great match for Irish Cricket followers was over. A good crowd had come on the second day. The heroes, never to be forgotten, were Greenidge, King and Holder for West Indies and the gallant Anderson and Monteith for Ireland. West Indies went on to win the five match Test Series by 3-0.