The third successive convincing win over Wales, and the third successive match against Wales in which Ireland exceeded 300 in an innings. The match was the first ever staged at the lovely enlarged Malahide ground 8 miles north of Dublin. The square was laid by Peter Drury of Nottingham four years ago. The wicket played "low and slow" but was perfectly adequate. All the arrangements were excellent and Malahide hosted a dinner on the second evening. A box collection on the first day yielded £80. The weather throughout was warm and sunny.

With Corlett unavailable Ireland called on M Shannon, an 18-year-old off spinner from the NCU second division club, Holywood. He had one good Guinness cup match on the day the team selected. That he should have got a cap at so young an age with so little results behind him reflects the current paucity of bowling in Ireland. Halliday and Anderson continued to be omitted. On the eve of the match G Harrison called off with an infected finger. PM O'Reilly was sent for from Warwickshire. He took seven wickets and bowled at a good pace. Wales had three changes from the original selection with Harries, Hughes and Carey coming in as substitutes.

Wales flew into Dublin on Sunday morning at 11:30 AM. They began, after lunch, at 1:30 PM and continued to 8:00 PM. Winning the toss Wales sent the tall correct Elward (52 in 1983) and Harries in to face Jeffrey and O'Reilly. The latter began with his usual quota of no-balls and wides but, with the score on 25, he removed Harries LBW, the batsman departing grumpily (as usual!). Next ball demolished the stumps of the youthful Maddocks who did not play a shot. Ellis and Elward put on 27 in 35 minutes. Prior relieved O'Reilly. In his second over Ellis was out to a good gully catch by Warke. 52-3-8. R Williams joined Elward in a good stand. Patterson was tried and Shannon was given three overs. Monteith came on with the total on 89, the sixth bowler. In his third over R Williams offered Patterson a gentle catch at cover which was dropped. In the over previous to this, the 36th of the innings (and after the first tea break taken as 87-3) O'Reilly once again took two wickets in an over. He had Elward caught at the wicket for a steady 52 scored in 131 minutes and he bowled Hughes for 4. 99-5. Monteith bowled Carey to make it 102-6. Next over R Williams gave Monteith another wicket skiing to Jeffrey at long off. 104-7. P Lawlor now appeared. His people are from Arklow and a large number of them had come up for the day. Peter did not let them down. He made 52 in 64 minutes coming in at number nine and so rallied the Welsh tail. The last three wickets added 74.

Lawlor was badly dropped by Jeffrey at long off when only 14 off Monteith with the score on 128-7. Lawlor hit Monteith for three sixes. The latter bowled 13 overs for 23 but finished with 47 runs conceded off 15.2 overs. However, Monteith did account for Davies with the score on 139 and finally for John when the score had reached 178. In between Patterson bowled Lawlor for 52 with the score on 166. The dismissal of John was noteworthy. He swept Monteith to the deep square leg boundary were O'Reilly made a lot of ground and brought off a magnificent catch. One of Lawlor's sixes to mid-wicket landed full pitch on the calf of Ida Lewis (wife of Ian and mother of Alan). It bounced from her calf and went over a wall. Fortunately no serious injury was suffered. O'Reilly took 4-46 in his 18 overs at a good pace and better direction than in 1983, but he did bowl 11 no-balls. Monteith took 4-47 in his 15.2 overs. In all 62.2 overs were bowled in 229 minutes. The innings ended just on the 25 minute main tea interval.

Short and Warke opened to L Williams and John with 115 minutes left in the first day's play. In this period 32 overs were bowled and Ireland at close of play were 55-2, Short 38, Lewis 1. Williams, ex Glamorgan, bowled 15 overs of splendid line and length seam bowling. He conceded 25 runs and bowled Warke (13) when the score was 32. Ellis, at first change, was even more parsimonious. His nine overs of medium pace yielded only three runs, all singles. In his fourth over he had Wills caught at the wicket for 2 with the score on 47.

Play on Monday was from 11 AM to 7 PM. The pre-lunch session of 140 minutes saw 41 overs bowled and the score had risen to 140-4 off a total of 73 overs. This sluggish rate was because L Williams and Ellis continued to bowl very accurately. Lawlor (off spin) came on for the 64th over and Carey (similar) for the 67th. By this time Williams had got Lewis LBW for 15 with the total on 91 (Lewis had batted 97 minutes) and Short caught one-handed by Harries at slip with the score at 98. Short's 58 occupied 194 minutes but he had fought an invaluable delaying duel with the bowlers. He had been dropped at square leg, when 18, off John the previous evening. Ellis was in his 23rd over before the runs he conceded exceeded the overs he bowled. Patterson joined Prior an hour before lunch with the total on 98-4. By lunch they had brought the score to 140, by which time Patterson had struck four boundary fours. At lunch Prior was 21 and Patterson 24.

The tempo increased dramatically after lunch with Lawlor and Carey continuing to bowl and two overs from R Williams. In 46 minutes 85 runs were added off only 15 overs, Carey been hit for 15 in one over. In 30 minutes Prior took his score from 21 to 50 which took him 101 minutes in all. When it looked as if Patterson would score a 50 in his first innings for Ireland he was stumped off legspinner Maddocks for 49. The partnership had put on 123 in 108 minutes. It was the best for the fifth wicket against Wales and the second best ever. Ellis had come back to try to stem the flow. Prior hit him for 4-4-6 and his score rose from 50 to 76 in 22 minutes. In the next over from Ellis Prior was caught at wide mid-off after a splendid innings featuring 10 fours and a six in 123 minutes. This was the first ever stand of over 50 for the eighth wicket against Wales.

The new ball was taken at 264 after 101.1 overs but it was struck to all parts. Jeffrey hit six fours in his 28, saw 300 up, and was bowled by John with the score at 318. In the next over from L Williams Monteith was caught for 43 in 88 minutes, which featured seven boundary fours. He had been dropped twice, both off the unfortunate John. L Williams deservedly took the last wicket with the score on 320 (O'Reilly LBW) to emerge with 5-75 in 37.3 overs. Ellis, having only conceded 25 runs off his first 23 overs, conceded 46 in his last nine. In 145 minutes since lunch 180 runs were scored off 38.3 overs.

Wales went in with 130 minutes left and a deficit of 142. Elward began with 6 twos. Jeffrey and O'Reilly bowled five overs each. Then Shannon and Monteith came on. The was a lot of blocking before Elward was caught at short leg off bat and pad by Short off Monteith in the 22nd over. 38-1-16. Maddocks came in on a "King Pair". Monteith's first ball passed him. There was a noise and Jackson dropped the ball. Rumour has it that the umpire would have given him out! Patterson came on for Shannon. Monteith bowled nine overs for 13 and left the field with a sore knee (Maurice Whelan of Railway Union was substitute).

Short took over as captain and soon had Lewis bowling opposite Patterson as the evening dew made the ball move off the wicket. With the last ball of his first over (the 36th) Lewis moved one away and hit the off stump of Maddocks - his first wicket for Ireland. 57-2-7. Earlier in the over Short had dropped Maddocks at gully. Lawlor came in as night watchman. At 6:53 PM Patterson started to bowl what transpired to be the last over of the day. The second ball had Harries LBW, and the fourth had another night watchman caught by Warke at gully. This was M Davies. R Williams played at the remaining two balls. The score at close of play was 57-4, Lawlor 0, RWilliams 0 and three wickets had fallen with the score on 57.

Play on the third day was scheduled from 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM with lunch at 1 PM. On the stroke of lunch Ireland won by 10 wickets, needing only four runs to do so. O'Reilly opened the bowling on the third day with Patterson. In his second over O'Reilly bowled Lawlor and a fourth wicket had fallen at the same score of 57. At 62 Lewis took a thrilling catch diving to his right at cover to dismiss R Williams off O'Reilly. This catch was similar to Butcher's catching of Lewis himself at the Oval in the Nat West match against Surrey. Ellis now came in at number seven, and only he remained between Wales and defeat. The belligerent Hughes (three fours in his 20) and Ellis took the score to 96 before O'Reilly struck again and had Hughes LBW off a ball which kept low. Carey was next and the eighth wicket stand lasted 1 minute under an hour and put on 35 runs. Lewis and O'Reilly shared the bowling at this stage. Carey had an early life when Monteith missed him at slip off Lewis. Jackson missed him at the wicket also off Lewis and then Wills put down a slip catch off O'Reilly. At 12:29 PM Monteith was finally induced to bowl with the score at 131. His first ball got through Ellis. Ellis had batted 111 minutes for 26. In Monteith's following over Shannon held a fine catch at deep mid-off to dismiss Carey for 30 scored in 68 minutes. One over later Patterson caught John also off Monteith (3-8 today) to end the innings with the score on 145 after 73.4 overs. With 5 minutes to lunch Warke and Jackson went out to get four runs to win. L Williams kept wicket and the wicket-keeper Davies bowled legspin. Warke took a single and then hit a four from the only ball bowled by Elward.