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Ireland International Matches
Ireland beat Canada by an innings and 102 runs
3 Day, Rathmines, 14 July 1887
Scorecard
Derek Scott

A very strong XI - some said the strongest ever - easily defeated the Canadians by an Innings. The batting was excellent and Emerson bowled out the Canadians twice. Two months earlier he had bowled out the All England XI for 45 while playing for Dublin University.

The first day's weather was good, as was the wicket, thanks to groundsman McBride. JH Fleming's arrangements for the crowd were excellent. At 11 55 the two Meathmen, Trotter and Emerson, opened for Ireland to Ferrie (fast round arm) and Ogden (slow over arm). Gillespie came on before 20 was up and bowled 7 overs for 3 runs. Annand was tried at 30. At 46 Annand held a return from Trotter low and to the right. Trotter's 20 was a good if cautious innings. At 57 Gillespie caught Blacker at mid on off Ferrie. 57-2-8. Cronin came in and the score crept up but very slowly. At 94 Emerson was bowled by a shooter from Gillespie. His 36 had taken 90 minutes but it was a perfect innings. E Fitzgerald joined Cronin who was missed by Little at point. 100 went up and Allan, a fast tearaway bowler, was tried but at lunch the pair were still in and the score was 131 for 3. Photographs delayed the resumption until 3 25.

Off the very first ball after lunch Cronin ran out Fitzgerald. 131-4-14. Dunn was next and he commenced with 7 singles. At 155 Cronin was caught at long stop having mishit Annand. Cronin's 45 was a pretty innings with two chances. Nunn came in and saw Dunn dropped off an easy catch to Jones at cover off Ogden. An overshy gave 4. At 172 Nunn, then 8, was smartly caught at the wicket off Ogden. JP Fitzgerald came in and Dunn began to score very quickly. Very soon 200 was up with Dunn doing all the scoring. 210 went up - then 220. At 223 after 51 had been added Fitzgerald (9) spooned one to G.W.Jones at mid off. At the same total Dunn was bowled by a full pitch from Allan for 67. It was a grand debut - a hard hitting innings with only one chance. W.D.Hamilton joined Hynes and the former got 30 in as many minutes. With both hitting well the decades followed each other on the board. Hamilton broke a bat but this did not deter him. 300 came up and not until the score was 319 - 4 short of a century partnership - was the stand broken. Then Hamilton was caught by Ogden off WW Jones for a very lively 62. Tobin was bowled first ball and the innings was over at 5.30 for 319. Hynes was 31 not out. He was careful at first and then became very confident. WW Jones with 2 for 25 was the best Canadian bowler - 6 of whom shared the wickets.

At 5 45 AC Allan and WW Vickers opened for the Canadians to the Varsity captain Hynes and Tobin. With the last ball of the first over Hynes bowled Allan for 0. Gillespie joined Vickers and at the close the score was 20 for 1 (Vickers 3 and Gillespie 12). Their Serene Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Saxe-Weimar were present.

The second day's attendance was much bigger. The weather was fine and the wicket played well but the Canadians were twice bowled out for 88 and 129. Vickers and Gillespie continued. Hynes and Tobin bowled 5 maidens in the first 6 overs. 17 had been added when Vickers was bowled by JP Fitzgerald (who had relieved Hynes at 32). 37-2-4. Saunders came in but at 40 Gillespie was caught by Cronin at mid on off JP Fitzgerald for a good 28. Emerson and Fitzgerald then caused a collapse and 8 were out for 50. Emerson had a spell of 9 overs in which he took 3 for 7. He got Henry at 44, GW Jones at 46 and CJ Annand at 50. Meanwhile Fitzgerald got Saunders and had bowled the captain E.R.Ogden for 0. WC Little and WW Jones made a stand of 21 then Emerson bowled Jones on a break-back. 71-9-9. Emerson missed Ferrie on a difficult caught and bowled. Little hit hard and 17 were added before Emerson ended the innings by taking left-handed a high return from Little. Little's 21 saved the Canadians from utter ruin. WD Hamilton fielded brilliantly but a substitute for J.Dunn made a sorry show of himself! Emerson in 15 overs took 5 for 16.

1

The Canadians followed on 231 behind. This time they did a little better. JP Fitzgerald and Emerson opened the bowling while Saunders and Ferrie (who had been no. 11 in the 1st innings) began for the visitors. Fitzgerald bowled a maiden and Emerson's 3rd ball bowled Ferrie for 0. The lunch score was 22 for 1 with Saunders and Gillespie in. At 35 Emerson bowled Saunders for 16 and after a 4 bye disposed of Allan for 0 with the last ball of the same over. Emerson clean bowled his 4th victim when he had Henry for 0. On this tour Henry was the Canadian's best bat but Emerson had bowled him twice for 5 and 0. G Jones joined Saunders. Tobin came on for Fitzgerald and after bowling 6 overs for 8 runs Tobin gave way to Nunn. Gillespie was batting well although he had one escape between slip and wicket keeper. At 80 Hynes came on for Nunn. Soon 90 was up and at 95 Emerson was at last relieved by JP Fitzgerald. He had bowled 24 consecutive overs and taken 4 for 36. 100 came up at 4 00. At 105 Gillespie foolishly ran himself out for a fine 54. The stand had added 66 runs. At 109 GW Jones' valuable innings ended when he was bowled by Hynes. 109-6-21. Ogden "bagged a pair" and was most unfortunate. He ran a single safely and then strolled out of his ground. Wicket keeper E Fitzgerald took advantage of this to run him out. 111-7-0. Vickers, who had opened the 1st innings, now appeared at no. 9 to join Little. Vickers made 7 and was bowled by a big break from Hynes. 121-8-7. WW Jones came in to see Little (in a long time for 4) bowled by Fitzgerald at 124. Hynes finished the innings at 129 by bowling Annand. The win was by an innings and 102 runs. The Canadian fielding and throwing, particularly that of WA Henry, was very good. Henry was the Canadian National Sprint Champion and a match was arranged between him and the Irish champion Vigne.

The tourists in all played 19 matches - all against amateur opponents - and won 5 and lost 5. The Irish game was their first match and came two days after landing at Derry so their heavy defeat was understandable. On the same days as this match XVIII of North of Ireland CC were defeated by an All England XI in a match badly affected by the weather which was "decidedly unpropitious".