Ireland v Scotland

Triple Crown
Stratford on Avon: 21st July 1994

Ireland won by 5 wickets

SCOTLAND
IL Philip            lbw b Lewis       8   BOWLING: IRELAND
*AC Storie           lbw b Lewis      13   Moore         9  1  34  0
GN Reifer                not out      52   Nelson       11  4  30  1
JD Love                  b Lewis       1   Hoey         11  3  19  0
G Salmond       c Millar b Lewis      12   Lewis        11  1  21  4
M Allingham    st Millar b Harrison    3   Harrison      8  2  25  2
JW Govan         c Lewis b Curry       2   Curry         5  0  21  1
%DA Orr        st Millar b Harrison   11
GM Hamilton              b Nelson     21   FALL OF WICKETS
IM Stanger               not out      15   25, 27, 29, 63, 76,
MS Richardson                              83, 105, 135
Extras            (lb 6, w 3, nb 9)   18
Total         (8 wickets, 55 overs)  156
IRELAND
MF Cohen             lbw b Richardson  4   BOWLING: SCOTLAND
MP Rea                   not out      72   Hamilton      8  0  39  0
*SJS Warke         c Orr b Allingham  15   Richardson 10.2  2  28  1
DA Lewis        c Philip b Allingham   0   Stanger      11  2  27  0
GD Harrison        c Orr b Reifer     12   Allingham    10  1  27  2
DJ Curry       c Salmond b Reifer      7   Govan         1  0   6  0
SG Smyth                 not out      31   Reifer        8  1  23  2
CJ Hoey
%RB Millar                                 FALL OF WICKETS
AN Nelson                                  7, 53, 53, 80, 93
ER Moore
Extras        (b 1, lb 6 w 3, nb 6)   16
Total       (5 wickets, 48.2 overs)  157  
Umpires: K Bray & B Harrison
Toss: Ireland
* captain  % wicketkeeper

Smyth, Rea and Lewis star in opening victory

The Irish bowling earlier in the day had been controlled and accurate, the fielding returned to its high standards of Headingley and made the efforts against Australia look like a bad dream, while the batting showed great resolve.

Luck wasn't with the batsman, either-Mark Cohen and Stephen Warke's decisions raised a few eyebrows, Garfield Harrison flashed at one too many and gave wicketkeeper Orr his second catch, while Decker Curry's first attacking shot ended up in the hands of mid wicket. Alan Lewis lasted only two balls, but in the end it did not matter and the catch he fell to in the gully was as breathtaking as his earlier bowling stint. He produced his best bowling spell for Ireland to return his top international figures of four for 21 from 11 overs-no more than he deserved. On a green wicket which offered the seam bowlers all the assistance they could possibly hope for, Lewis also swung the ball to make his opening overs virtually unplayable. He took a wicket with the fifth ball of each of his first two overs and the last ball of his third, at a cost of just two runs. The fourth came when Brian Millar sent George Salmond walking with a catch even better than the one he took to account for Barbados' Collis King at Ormeau earlier in the season.

Millar also ensured two wickets for Harrison, while Conor Hoey's 11 overs for 19 runs in the middle of the Scottish innings showed how much he had missed in the last few matches as he recovered from his injury. Alan Nelson bounced back into the international arena with four successive maidens. For Garfield Harrison there was the additional celebration of reaching the 100 wicket mark in his international career.

In the other opening day match in Birmingham, England bowled out Wales for 143 and went on to an easy win by 9 wickets with Steve Dean making an unbeaten 91 for the English.