The wicket was very wet but they began only 5 minutes late. Ireland won the toss and asked Scotland to bat. On a very big wet long grassed outfield they batted for 369 minutes and 131.5 overs, being all out for 252. At one time they were 132-6 with the wicket quickening under a hot sun. Then some hard chances were dropped and the sun went in. The next wicket fell at 211.
Elder bowled Swan in his fourth over. 16-1-5. Racionzer and Bell batted very slowly up to lunch, Ireland using all their bowlers except Anderson. The lunch score was 55-1 in 44 overs, Racionzer 37, Bell 12. Anderson was now tried and saw Reith at slip drop Racionzer (40) at 61 and previously Elder at cover had failed to hold one at 56. At 98 Bell pitched one in front of Elder at cover off Halliday which the fielder did not seem to pick up. However, the sun was now out and Monteith and Halliday were in tandem. At 108 Bell popped one to short leg off Halliday. 108-2-39. At 114 Racionzer's 200 minute vigil came to an end. He swept a wide ball from Monteith and Corlett took a two-handed head high catch at backward short leg. Hayes hit two fours and then lofted a catch to Cohen at long off from Monteith. 127-4-14.
Next over Donald was caught by Bushe off Halliday without scoring. Steele did not last long, being LBW to Monteith's slower ball. Here ended Ireland's success. Moir joined Warner and gave Reith a chance at slip off Monteith before he had scored. At tea the score was 165-6 off 95 overs, Warner 22, Moir 15. The new ball was taken in the 100th over at 174. Elder bowled seven overs and Corlett four but it needed the spinners to end the innings. With an hour to play Warner drove a catch back to Halliday. 211-7-48. In the next 44 minutes Scotland got 41 runs but should surely have either gone quicker or declared earlier. At 227 Moir hit a skier to Harpur at long off Monteith which Harpur hung on to very well. Robertson was bowled by Halliday without scoring. When Clark came in Goddard was 6. He needed 13 to achieve the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets for Scotland which only JM Allan and D Barr had previously achieved. He got there in a 23 run stand with Clark before the latter was LBW to Monteith. Monteith's 5-81 came in 42.5 overs, and Halliday took 4-66 in 39 overs.
The two teams at Drumpellier CC
With 5 minutes left for play Goddard bowled an over of off spin and Robertson bowled the last over. They ended with Ireland 5-0, Short 1, Reith 0. Next day rain and a wet square prevented play until 4 PM and bad light stopped it at 6:06 PM. Ireland took their score to 103-2 off 44 overs. Reith played his best and highest innings of the season. He lost Short (1) with the score on 5 when he was caught at third slip off Robertson. O'Brien was missed at slip by Racionzer off Moir when 8. Goddard and Moir did most of the bowling. They were hard to see on a gloomy day, the sight screens being too small for the 6'8" Moir bowling slow left arm. O'Brien kept Reith company until the latter was out for 59 with the score on 93. He failed to get over a drive from Moir and was caught at backward point after a 115 minutes stay. With Anderson in bad light ended play at 103-2.
On the third day Ireland batted very badly. The remaining eight wickets fell in 71 minutes and 21 overs. Clark bowled unchanged from one end and took four of these wickets. He had O'Brien (33) LBW with the score on 112 and Anderson caught at cover, driving, at 115. Harpur and Monteith had come in earlier in search of runs and a declaration 60 runs behind. In fact, Ireland were bowled out and the Scottish lead was 107. Clark bowled Monteith at 125 and Cohen flicked a catch to square leg in his next over. In 28 balls Clark had 4-3. Harpur had been dropped at short leg off Clark but at 131 Moir took two wickets in an over. Harpur lobbed one to third slip and Halliday was bowled two balls later. Elder got 6 out of 10 added before hitting Moir to wide mid off. Bushe refused a Corlett call off the last ball of an over. Corlett failed to regain his ground but Bushe would probably not have made it either. Ireland were 145 all out, Clark 4-29 in 19 overs.
Scotland went in again with 180 minutes and 20 overs left. They used 99 minutes in scoring 76-5, all five wickets falling to Corlett in his 13.3 overs for 32 runs. Elder bowled all 13 overs at the other end. At number five Swan hit a ball to Short at midwicket and Hays was bowled playing a wild shot at 17. Racionzer was caught at the wicket at 32 for 20. Warner's dismissal, LBW, at 36 brought the lunch interval. Bell and Moir added 40 with the latter hitting two massive straight sixes off Corlett. Reith dropped Bell off Corlett at slip when 15. At 2:24 PM Moir (26) was LBW and the declaration came, Bell 17 not out.
Ireland had 80 minutes + 20 overs to get 184, a not very feasible task. Robertson and Clark shared the first 10 overs. Reith was bowled by Clark in the 10th. Moir came on for the 11th over in place of Robertson with a total at 22. Warner dropped Short at gully off Moir when 18 and O'Brien, 0, was dropped by Moir at short leg off Clark in the next over. At 28, O'Brien (3) offered Moir another chance which he took. The last hour began with the 24th over and the score at 49-2, 135 still needed. 10 overs were bowled by Moir and Goddard and the score rose to 77-2, Short 44, Anderson 22. The match was then given up as a draw. Anderson (when 15) had a life at 60 when Moir dropped him at short leg off Goddard. Tom Clark, the Provost of Monklands District Council, gave a reception to both teams in the District Sports Center on the first night.
Aged 32 MS Reith's career ended. Batting left-handed and bowling medium right-handed he scored 1838 runs at an average of 23.26 in 44 matches, with one century and 11 Fifties including one in his last match. He only took one wicket in his 62 overs. He missed 11 matches between 1972 and 1974 when he was living in Australia. He scored his century against Holland in 1970 in the first match outside the British Isles since 1909. He won 14 and lost eight of his 44 matches. He was the 16th player to score 1000 runs for Ireland. He did so in 39 innings, being second only to TG McVeagh's 31 innings at that time.