Ireland v NCA England

Triple Crown
Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow: 20th July 1994

NCA England won by 9 wickets

Man of the Match: S Dean (NCA England)

IRELAND
S.J.S.Warke   c Waterton  b Arnold      3   BOWLING: NCA ENGLAND
S.G.Smyth     c Waterton  b Ellwood    13   Arnold    11  1  40  2
U.Graham             lbw  b Arnold      0   Roshier   11  1  38  0
*D.A.Lewis      c Arnold  b Evans      57   French    11  1  59  0
J.D.R.Benson  st Waterton b Evans      51   Ellwood   11  1  33  1
Narasimha Rao             not out      38   Evans     11  2  36  2
G.D.Harrison              run out       8
G.Cooke                   not out      18
E.R.Moore                                   FALL OF WICKETS
C.J.Hoey                                    14, 14, 42, 129, 145, 172
%R.B.Millar
Extras                 lb 6 w 4 nb 9   19
Total          (55 overs, 6 wickets)  212
NCA ENGLAND
S.D.Dean                  not out     130   BOWLING: IRELAND
%S.N.V.Waterton    c Rao  b Hoey       37   Moore      9  1  32  0
*M.J.Roberts              not out      37   Hoey      11  2  27  1
M.Hussain                                   Cooke    4.5  0  26  0
D.Clarke                                    Harrison   9  1  49  0
D.Snellgrove                                Graham     9  1  35  0
N.French                                    Rao        5  0  41  0
P.Roshier
R.Evans                                     FALL OF WICKETS
K.Arnold                                    120
R.Ellwood
Extras             b 1 lb 2 w 4 nb 2    9
Total         (47.5 overs, 1 wicket)  213  
Umpires: L.Redd & P.Brown/M.Wylie
Toss: Ireland
* captain  % wicketkeeper

Dean dominates in emphatic English victory

Report by Ian Callender (Newsletter)

For the second Triple Crown Tournament hosted by Scotland from the 20th to 22nd July, Ireland selected a 13-strong party. For their opening game against England Amateur in Glasgow, Rea and Doak were omitted from the squad.

The holders, England Amateur, made a convincing first defence. The victory margin of nine wickets with more than seven overs to spare was as emphatic in reality as it is on paper as the six Irish bowlers attempted to defend their innings of 212 from their 55 overs on the flat Hamilton Crescent wicket. Steve Dean, the Staffordshire opener, scored the first century of the competition. He was 130 not out when his captain, Malcom Roberts, hit the winning run and that was more than any Irish player scored in all three games in England last year. The top scorer then was Michael Rea When Rea's replacement opener, Stephen Smyth, was dismissed caught behind, it looked, at 42 for 3, as if Ireland needed the extra batsman.

A stand of 87 between Lewis and Benson should have put Ireland back on course for the 250 total which always looked necessary to give the bowlers a chance but there was no acceleration throughout the partnership which lasted 29 overs and it needed 25 off the last three overs from Bobby Rao and Gordon Cooke to get through the 200 barrier.

An early breakthrough was essential but, when Conor Hoey failed to get his man, the heads visibly dropped. Hoey had been brought in to plot the downfall of Dean for the second successive year, but the leg spinner had no joy in his first six overs and by the time he returned, immediately after tea, to complete his 11 over stint the opener was on 62 having already hit three sixes and two fours. Hoey did take the wicket of Dean's opening partner Stuart Waterton, albeit after a partnership of 120, and Hoey was, by some distance, Ireland's best and most economical bowler of the day.

Eddie Moore recovered well after conceding 13, including a Dean six, in his first two overs and Graham started brightly but suffered in the onslaught. Cooke looked a tired young bowler by the end. Rao and Harrison conceded 90 off just 14 overs as Dean finished with 12 boundaries, half of them clearing the fence. His only semblance of a chance came when he was on 55 and Smyth got a hand to a pull at backward square leg in Rao's first over.

Benson was at his impressive best getting to 50 but threw his wicket away immediately afterwards with an ugly shot. Lewis, much slower than Benson, then fell in the attempt to improve the run rate, caught at long-on and Harrison, sent back by Rao was run out at the third attempt. The Man of the Match Award went to S. D. Dean. During Ireland's innings, umpire Brown was struck on the leg by a shot from Justin Benson and was forced to retire at the lunch interval, being replaced by M Wylie. In the other first round match Wales beat Scotland.