West Midlands, England: 21-23 July 1993

NCA England v Ireland

Triple Crown
Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow: 20th July 1994

Ireland won by 13 runs

Man of the Match: C McCrum (Ireland)

IRELAND
MF Cohen             lbw b French     42   BOWLING: NCA ENGLAND
MP Rea            c Dean b Van Lint   27   Roshier     11  2  29  0
DJ Curry             lbw b French     20   Hackett     11  0  49  0
SG Smyth     st Waterton b Evans      15   Evans       11  4  32  2
*SJS Warke               not out      39   French      11  0  48  2
DA Lewis        c French b Evans       0   Van Lint    11  1  32  2
C McCrum             lbw b Van Lint   17
GD Harrison              not out      23
CJ Hoey                                    FALL OF WICKETS
%RB Millar                                 46, 85, 102, 112, 112,
AN Nelson                                  152
Extras            (lb 4, w 6, nb 1)   11
Total         (6 wickets, 55 overs)  194
NCA ENGLAND
SJ Dean          c Warke b Hoey       11   BOWLING: IRELAND
%S Waterton          lbw b McCrum     66   Nelson      11  1  28  1
*MJ Roberts              run out       9   Hoey        11  1  29  2
M Hussain                b Hoey       17   Lewis        9  0  34  1
A Farooque           c & b Curry       3   Harrison    11  1  23  0
D Clarke             lbw b Nelson     17   McCrum     5.4  0  27  4
P Roshier            lbw b Lewis      10   Curry        5  0  24  1
N French         c Curry b McCrum     15
A Van Lint           c & b McCrum      2   FALL OF WICKETS
R Evans              c & b McCrum      2   25, 51, 93, 101, 132,
N Hackett                not out       1   152, 175, 175, 180, 181
Extras           (b 4, lb 12, w 12)   28
Total                  (52.4 overs)  181  
Umpires: J Tythcott & B Harrison          Toss: Ireland
* captain  % wicketkeeper

Great spell by McCrum gives victory over England

After England's crushing nine wickets victory over Wales the previous day, this game promised to be the match of the tournament but no-one could have expected such an emotionally draining final hour, the climax to a slow but pulsating day's cricket between two highly charged and competitive teams. Ireland's total of 194 for six, after Stephen Warke had once again won the toss, seemed at least 40 below what would have been hoped for- certainly, a number of half volleys were missed and a few quick singles were turned down, but the subsequent heroic performances of the bowlers more than made up for it later in the day.

Mark Cohen batted through a nightmarish start to finish top scorer with 42 off 100 balls and everyone else, bar the out of form Lewis, chipped in, none more so than captain Warke and Harrison with an invaluable unbroken seventh wicket stand of 42 at a rate of a run from each ball faced. Warke ended up doing press-ups at the wicket during his innings and he missed the last 30 overs in the field because of a back problem.

When England had taken 44 off their first 13 overs for the loss of just one wicket, it looked a home banker but the introduction of Garfield Harrison forced this thrilling match to take the first of its many twists. Warke had employed a wonderful tactical ploy against probably the best amateur batsman in England, Steve Dean. Conor Hoey's leg spinners were used to open the bowling in the hope of surprising Dean. It succeededand Hoey did his job, taking the wicket of Dean caught at slip-Ireland went into the match with eight batsmen leaving the leg spinner to open the bowling in place of Paul McCrum- and then Harrison reeled off 11 overs of accurate off spin at a cost of just 23 runs. Another danger man, Mike Roberts, was run out at 51 by a swift throw from Charlie McCrum. Harrison received splendid support from all of his colleagues at the other end so that when Decker Curry replaced him the teams were level pegging.

And that was the way it stayed for the last, dramatic 20 overs with Ireland, just whenever they needed a wicket, taking one, although Alan Lewis kept England closer than they should have been with eight wides.

McCrum had been whipped off earlier after conceding nine runs in his fourth over but, when the captain had no-one to turn to, McCrum responded superbly. A leading edge to the safe hands of Curry at point started the collapse in the 51st over, the stubborn Stuart Waterton, who was threatening to carry his bat, was given out leg before next ball and with the first ball of what was to prove his final over, McCrum held a memorable reflex return catch to leave England 14 short and the last man coming to the wicket.

The English pundits said that Rupert Evans couldn't bat, but McCrum did not wait to find out and held low drive from him to begin the celebrations.

Meanwhile, at Walsall, Wales suffered their second defeat when they failed by 6 runs to match Scotland's total of 179 all out in which Storie made 62 and Russell made 55.