An extraordinary match which gave Ireland a first win over Scotland since 1983 and evened the wins at 19 each over the now 70 match series. It was played at a new venue for this fixture, Malahide, and was extraordinary because the Scottish opening pair put on 236 chanceless runs for their first wicket - and still they lost! Why? Scotland declared at this point, 48 behind and, on the third day, lost their way when set 282 to win in 130 minutes plus a minimum 20 overs in the last hour. There were 10 deliveries to go when Hoey bowled Duthie behind his legs to win the match.

Ireland discarded six players from the Zimbabwe tour, Dunlop, Nulty, Smyth, N Nelson, O'Reilly and P McCrum. Three players unavailable for Zimbabwe were brought back, Cohen, A McBrine and Thompson. Then Jackson cried off due to his father's illness and Bailey came in. McBrine (work) also defected from the team and Smyth was called on. Swan had retired as Scotland's captain (though he did play) and O Henry, the South African, took over. JMA sponsored the match. Both squads were kept together for Nat West matches which came two days after this match. Scotland did not return home until the day after the match which allowed long hours of play. In addition, "ad hoc" additions were made to the scheduled hours of play to make up for time lost to rain on the first two days.

Scotland sent Ireland in on a lively pitch and seemed to be proving their point when Ireland were 89-4 soon after lunch. Then Harrison and Patterson put on 141, a record fifth wicket partnership against Scotland. Warke and Cohen started against Cowan and Duthie. The stand was slow, 26 in 53 minutes. Cohen hit a boundary as his only scoring stroke in 43 balls faced. Goram, Scotland's International goalkeeper, replaced Cowan for the 15th over. His fourth ball got Cohen brilliantly caught by Salmond at square cover. 26-1-4. In Duthie's next over, with the total still on 26, Swan dropped Warke (then on 16) at first slip. Rea and Warke brought 50 up in 28.4 overs. At 56, Cowan, who had returned for Duthie, had Warke caught at the wicket. 56-2-32. In 38 overs up to lunch Ireland reached 75-2, Rea 22, Lewis 9.

Two overs after lunch Lewis (14) after hitting a 4 was run out by Russell attempting a run that was not there. 84-3-14. Two overs later Rea was caught at short leg off Duthie after batting 85 minutes for 27. Patterson and Harrison then started a long haul back. 100 came up in 47.4 overs and there was a 28 minute rain break when the score was 102. There were 55 minutes play up to another rain break and, in that time, 35 more runs were added with Henry bowling tightly at one end. At the rain break, which came at 4:21 PM, tea was taken with the score on 137-4 in 67 overs, Patterson 31, Harrison 15. It was now agreed to play to 7:30 PM and play resumed at 5:15 PM. In those 135 minutes 38 more overs were bowled.

The tempo improved, chiefly due to Harrison, and 144 more runs were scored. 150 came up in 70.3 overs. At 177 Harrison (41) should have been stumped off Russell. Harrison reached 50 in 126 minutes and he was now playing very well particularly in his driving. 200 came up in 87.4 overs and the unusually subdued Patterson reached 50 in 163 minutes. It was his sixth 50 but his first in Ireland. New ball was taken at 194 after 85 overs. 10 overs later Cowan bowled Harrison with the score at 230. The stand of 141 came in 172 minutes and Patterson was now 55. Harrison hit 10 fours, 5 after reaching 50. Smith hit a brisk 14 and Thompson hammered 4 fours off Cowan in his 21. The score at close of play was 284-6, Patterson 73, Thompson 21.

Ireland declared overnight and then came the onslaught from Philip and Patterson. There were 150 minutes to lunch during which 41 overs were bowled and at the interval the score was 137, Philip 73, Patterson 58. Five bowlers were tried but none could stem the tide. Harrison had an unusual stint. He came on at 44 and bowled until lunch. His first seven overs yielded 37 and his next seven only 2 runs! Philip reached 50 in 97 minutes to Patterson's 98 minutes. Then Philip accelerated. 50 had come up in 14.4 overs, 100 in 25.1 overs.

After lunch the resumption was delayed by 46 minutes. There was then play for 17 minutes before another break, this time one of 21 minutes. It was then agreed to extend play by one hour to 7:30 PM. The Scottish pair batted for another 20.3 overs and added a further 99 runs. 150 was up in 45.5 overs and 200 in 57 overs. Then the records began to fall. 203 by Kerr and Parker was the best first wicket stand against Ireland by Scotland - at Greenock in 1926. 211 at Lords in 1935 was the best first wicket stand by any team against Ireland. This was for MCC by Wilkinson and Hamilton. Ireland's best stand for any wicket (it was in fact for the fourth) was by O'Riordan and Anderson, 222 against Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in 1976.

Finally the best stand of all, for or against, was 224 for the fourth wicket for Wales in 1926 by Riches and Mathias. All these records fell in the last 4.3 overs of the innings which yielded 36 runs. Philip reached 100 in 213 minutes and Patterson reached his 100 one minute later. With Thompson bowling, Patterson was run out with the score at 236 and Scotland declared. Philip hit his third century against Ireland in six matches and his second in succession. He hit 16 fours. Patterson's second century against Ireland contained 2 sixes and 10 fours. Neither gave a chance.

Tea was taken and there were 153 minutes left to close of play. In this time Scotland bowled 44 overs while Ireland dawdled to a painstaking 84 without loss. When Cohen was 1 he was dropped by Swan at second slip off Cowan He was 31 at the close and Warke 43. The lead was now 132, and no wicket had fallen to a bowler during the entire day.

The third day was scheduled to start at 11:30 AM but was agreed to start at 11 AM. Rain foiled that by falling for 53 minutes. Warke and Cohen brought their 100 partnership up in 49.2 overs. In eight overs the stand was taken from 84 to 115. Then Cohen misjudged a full length ball from Goram and was bowled for 44. Goram got Cohen in the first innings also, his only two wickets in the match. At 125 Rea (5 then) was missed by Govan in the gully off Goram. Then, starting at 140, Cowan took three wickets in 22 deliveries bowled by him. Rea pushed a full toss back to him with the score on 140, Warke was LBW at 147 and Patterson was out to a bat pad catch at short leg on 157 on the last ball before lunch. In 23.3 overs 73 had been added. It all looked too slow as there were now 270 minutes left and the lead was 205. Warke's 78 came in 225 minutes and lifted his aggregate against Scotland to over 800 runs in eight matches at an average of over 50.

Lewis and Harrison added 59 at a run a minute after lunch. Lewis's 44 included 6 fours. The declaration came after this pair and Thompson were out. The target set was 282 in 130 minutes plus a minimum of 20 overs. It did look as if neither team could win. Scotland lost their way. They tried for too long amid falling wickets and never came to grips after a fine opening spell by Nelson. Nelson had Patterson caught at the wicket in his second over. 7-1-6. In his fifth over he brilliantly caught and bowled Philip by diving down the pitch and taking the ball in his left hand near the ground. 16-2-7. The 2 first innings century scorers had this time made 13 between them. Thompson bowled 5 overs for 8 but Hoey yielded 16 in his two overs pre tea. Tea came after 50 minutes (14 overs) with the score at 40-2, Swan 15, Salmond 9. There were now 80 minutes play +20 overs to get 242 runs or lose seven wickets. The latter occurred amid Irish delight. The fourth ball after tea saw Swan LBW to Nelson. 40-3-15. Russell joined Salmond and this was a crucial partnership. It put on 62 in 44 minutes and the score rose from 50 to 100 in 9.2 overs. Harrison was tried at 74 and Lewis at 78. At 102-3, 180 were still required in 34 minutes +20 overs. Harrison was hit for 18 off his first 13 deliveries and Salmond reached 50 in 65 minutes. He hit Harrison's 14th delivery to deep mid-off and set off. A bullet - like throw to the wicket-keeper easily beat Russell (16) and a critical wicket had fallen.

In Harrison's next over Goram was expertly stumped by Bailey. 114-5-5. Three overs later the much desired wicket of Salmond fell to Lewis by way of a smart slip catch by Harrison. Salmond hit a six and 8 fours in his 66, scored in 88 minutes. Now the score was 128-6. Two overs and five runs later the last 20 overs commenced. Scotland needed 149 with only four wickets in hand. In spite of this Henry and Haggo put on 28 in 26 minutes. Then Hoey came into his own. He came on for Harrison at 155 for the fifth over of the last 20 and bowled Henry, playing a poor shot, with the last ball of this over. 156-7-22. Govan joined Haggo and 20 runs came quickly before Hoey trapped Govan LBW. 176-8-1. Duthie now defended stoutly with Haggo. Thompson had been given three overs and then Nelson came back to bowl the 14th over of the last 20. With the last ball of this over Haggo was LBW.

Cowan came in with six overs to go to join the scoreless Duthie. A maiden from Hoey, 2 runs to Cowan off Nelson, another maiden by Hoey - with Duthie staying at Hoey's end. Three overs to go. Lewis came on for Nelson and there were 4 byes in the over. Hoey came on to bowl the second last over to Duthie. He started with a quicker ball, then one tossed up outside leg stump. Duthie let it pass. It pitched in an old block hole and shot on to the leg stump. Ireland had 10 deliveries remaining. Nelson had a great bowl with 4-30 in three spells. Hoey got three of the last four wickets for 38. No catch was dropped.