With the exception of EA Halliwell, wicket keeper, and JJ Kotze, fast bowler, the South Africans put their strongest team in the field and suffered their second defeat of the tour. In all this team were defeated only three times and South African cricket had become a force to be reckoned with. They did not play any Test Matches but they beat a strong England XI at Lord's by 189 runs. The best batsmen were LJ Tancred, M Hathorn and F Mitchell, the captain and former Cambridge University and Yorkshire player. For bowling they relied on RO Schwartz, JJ Kotze and JH Sinclair. Schwartz came over as a batsman and did not bowl until the fourth match of the tour. From then on he puzzled everyone with his googlies which he had learned from Bosanquet. On the tour he took 96 wickets at under 15 runs each. Kotze took over 100 wickets and was the fastest bowler of his day.

The South Africans were essentially a hard wicket side and therefore the slow, dead and often unreliable wicket at the Mardyke did not suit them at all. As far as Ireland was concerned, it was Ross's match. The great TC Ross took nine wickets in the South African first innings, a record number of wickets for a bowler in an innings for Ireland in 11 a side matches, and only once previously equalled in 1859. He bowled magnificently as did Harrington in the second innings and South Africa were out twice for an aggregate of only 202 runs.

Only two hours play were possible on the first day. The morning was fine but began to wane at 10 a.m. The sun came out again in the early afternoon and play began at 4 p.m. The wicket was dead and slow and the Irish batting was not satisfactory, the score at the close being 124-7. Comyn was the best batsmen by far and Browning was also very correct. Schwartz was the chief trouble and he bowled from the start after just before the close of play. Most of the batsmen attempted to score too quickly and suffered by getting out. The attendance was small when Stuart and Comyn began to the bowling of Sinclair and Schwartz. In his second over Sinclair caught and bowled Stuart. 7-1-0. RH Lambert came in and with Comyn playing extremely well the total quickly went to 42 at which point Lambert was caught and bowled by Schwartz for 13. SC Smith was next and 50 went up in only 45 minutes. One run later Comyn was caught at the wicket by Wallach off Schwartz for a beautiful 32. SD Lambert joined Smith and White went on to bowl instead of Sinclair. At 56 Smith was caught at mid-off off Schwartz for five. Corley came in but at 71 Lambert also fell a victim to the guile of Schwartz. Browning was number seven. Corley opened up and hit Schwartz out of the ground and next ball hit him to the on boundary. He hit again at the next ball and was caught by Horwood. 86-6-11. Ross came in but was bowled at 94 by Middleton (a professional who played some matches for the Tourists). This was the last wicket to fall before close of play. Browning and Harrington added 30 runs although both were missed off Middleton. Browning was 25 and Harrington 14 at the finish.

The second day's play was sensational and exciting. There had been rain in the night but hot sun from early morning. As a result, the wicket became more and more tricky. The attendance was fair. Ireland's remaining three wickets took the score from 124 to 160. Schwartz and Middleton opened the bowling but White was soon on from the latter. 18 runs were added, making the partnership worth 48 in all, before Harrington was lbw to White for an invaluable 23. Kelly hit a merry 11 but before he was out Browning was bowled by White for a score of 40 which had saved the innings. Kelly was caught in the outfield one run later. Schwartz took 5-66 in 22 overs while White, also bowling leg breaks and googlies, had 3-14 in 8.4 overs. The South Africans made a disastrous start. At three, Ross bowled Sinclair; at nine he caught and bowled Hathorn; at 11 he had Shalders caught by Kelly. Harrington got his first and only wicket at 20 when he had Tancred caught from nine. There followed a stand of 23 between Mitchell and White but 43-4 quickly became 64 all out. Ross took all these wickets and it was a complete triumph for him. He had never bowled better, and, even allowing for the assistance from the wicket, it was one of the most meritorious performances in Irish cricket. It was by varying his pace that he beat most of his victims.

Ireland were all out a second time for 135. The only stands of note were those between Corley and SD Lambert for the fifth wicket which realised 49 and between Browning and Donovan for the last wicket which added 25 runs. The start was again bad. Comyn got 16 out of 17 for the first wicket and was then caught off Sinclair's medium paced bowling. RH Lambert was stumped off White for only three. Smith and Stuart quickly followed and the score was 41-4. Then came the Corley and SD Lambert partnership which brought the score to 90. Both played with freedom and Lambert hit Middleton for three successive fours. At 90 Snooke bowled Lambert for 27 and Schwartz bowled Corley one run later. Corley had made a neatly compiled 28. White came on for Middleton and he and Schwartz quickly disposed of Kelly, Ross and Harrington. It was left to Donovan to give Browning some support. The latter scored rapidly and 25 were added before Browning was caught off White. He had again played good cricket and had scored runs when they were badly needed. White with 4-29 in 13.1 overs took the bowling honours.

The South Africans going in at 5.45 p.m. needed 232 to win and in view of the state of the wicket and the good bowling in the first innings Ireland were favourites. Tancred and Shalders began and Harrington's first ball yorked Tancred. Snooke came in as "a night watchman" and survived with 10 not out. Shalder's was five not out and the score 17-1. The third day brought hot sun and the wicket still helping the bowlers. In two hours Ireland, the better team, had won by 93 runs. Shalders and Snooke took the score to 39 when Ross bowled Shalders for 11. Hathorn came in but at 43 Harrington bowled Snooke for a good 25. Mitchell was next and scoring was very fast. 50 came up in half an hour. Ross missed a hot caught and bowled chance of Hathorn but at 68 two wickets fell. Hathorn was caught at the wicket off Harrington 10 and Sinclair was stumped next ball. 68-5. Harrington took his fourth successive wicket when Smith held a wonderful outfield catch to dismiss Mitchell. 81-6-21. White and Schwartz were now together and 100 was reached in only 80 minutes which was very fast scoring for a team which had lost six wickets for 81 and were chasing a total of 232. Donovan and Kelly came on to bowl, being the first bowling changes on the Irish side in the match. Kelly, with his second ball, had Schwartz caught by Browning standing back. This seventh wicket partnership of Schwartz and White had added 41 runs. It was virtually the end. Kelly's fifth ball saw White caught at mid-on by Harrington. He had made 30. In Donovan's next over, with the score unchanged, Horwood was caught by Kelly at mid-off. Middleton joined Wallach for the 10th wicket but rain prolonged the inevitable end. Lunch was taken. At 2.15 p.m. play restarted with Ross and Harrington again sharing the attack. After 15 runs had been added in 20 minutes Ross bowled Middleton and Ireland had won by 93 runs. One last word must be about the fielding which was splendid on both sides.