West Midlands, England: 21-23 July 1993

Ireland v Wales

Triple Crown
Wolverhampton: 23rd July 1994

Wales won by 19 runs

Man of the Match: J Sylvester (Wales)

WALES
S Evans         c Nelson b Harrison   41   BOWLING: IRELAND
AW Harris        c Warke b P McCrum    0   P McCrum     8  1  28  1
JPJ Sylvester            run out      68   Nelson       9  1  22  1
J Derrick   c Rutherford b Lewis       1   Hoey         9  1  26  0
K Bell                   run out       7   C McCrum     3  0  18  0
*A Puddle            lbw b Nelson     11   Harrison     9  1  32  1
MJ Newbold               not out      27   Lewis        3  0  21  1
%P Richards  st Rutherford b Curry     3   Curry        4  0  23  2
AD Griffiths st Rutherford b Curry     4
A Smyth                                    FALL OF WICKETS
BJ Lloyd                                   6, 98, 105, 121, 135,
Extras           (lb 10, w 6, nb 2)   18   149, 160, 180
Total         (8 wickets, 45 overs)  180
IRELAND
MP Rea        c Richards b Newbold     7   BOWLING: WALES
C McCrum             lbw b Derrick     6   Derrick      8  2  23  2
SJS Warke        c Evans b Lloyd      39   Newbold      4  1  17  1
SG Smyth     st Richards b Lloyd      46   Smyth        7  0  36  0
DA Lewis                 run out       1   Lloyd        9  0  27  2
DJ Curry       c Derrick b Griffiths   3   Griffiths    8  2  30  2
GD Harrison          c & b Sylvester   0   Sylvester  6.3  0  22  2
%A Rutherford        lbw b Griffiths   6
CJ Hoey                  b Derrick    20   FALL OF WICKETS
P McCrum             c & b Sylvester  15   14, 14, 94, 102, 104,
AN Nelson                not out       7   108, 108, 118, 153, 161
Extras            (lb 6, w 4, nb 1)   11
Total                  (42.3 overs)  161  
Umpires: J Bloodworth & B Harrison
Toss: Ireland
* captain  % wicketkeeper

Dramatic collapse ends Triple Crown hopes

Ireland's final performance was as disappointing as the first two days of the competition had been memorable. Although Wales had been improving in each match after their hammering by England in their opening encounter, the Irish squad felt confident that they were capable of finishing the job in style. Warke won his seventh toss out of seven to date and Ireland seemed to have put themselves well on course for success. A dramatic batting collapse ended any hope of that.

Chasing 181 for victory in a game reduced to 45 overs after rain delayed the start for two hours, Ireland were coasting at 94 for two with Stephen Warke, defying his back problems, unbeaten on 39 and Stephen Smyth continuing his fine form. But Warke drove Stuart Evans into the hands of long on and in Barry Lloyd's next over Smyth was stumped for 46. The collapse was under way.

Alan Lewis completed a miserable week with the bat during which he scored one off 15 balls. He was run out in farcical circumstances for which Decker Curry was responsible-Curry added just three runs before he holed out to mid wicket. When Garfield Harrison gave a simple return catch to off spinner Sylvester Ireland had lost six wickets for 14 runs just when they wanted to be accelerating. Alan Rutherford, given his first chance of the tournament with the gloves, joined the demise after facing 13 balls, trapped in front by Griffiths. From 118 for eight Ireland had little prospect of winning but they kept everyone on tenterhooks until the third ball of the 43rd over after a ninth wicket stand of 36 between Conor Hoey and Paul McCrum.

The Irish bowling on this occasion was tidy rather than spectacular with Charlie McCrum unable to repeat his heroics of the previous day. Only Curry took more than one wicket and even those were in the last three overs of the Welsh innings. The feature of the Welsh innings was a classy 68 off 106 deliveries by Jamie Sylvester-easily the most impressive batting the Irish encountered in the entire competition. Added to his two late wickets he had no contender for the Man of the Match award.

Ireland's suffering did not even end with the fall of the final wicket. The NCA Trophy was sitting on the presentation table but, when the result arrived from Moseley, it had to be removed quickly and taken away for presentation to a surprised but delighted England squad.