Scotland v Ireland 10, 12 & 13 July 1926 by Cricket Scotland

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Ground:	Glenpark, Greenock
Scorecard:	Scotland v Ireland
Event:	Ireland in Scotland 1926

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DateLine: 3rd February 2013

 

 

Day 1:
A full day's cricket at Glenpark, Greenock, where the Gentlemen of Scotland met the Gentlemen of Ireland, left the game running in the Scotsmen's favour. At the close of play the Irish side had completed an innings for 210, and the Scots had replied with 147 without loss. The conditions overhead were ideal, and though the wicket had been flooded the previous day, it played easily.

 

Batting first, the Irishmen were in the early stages well at home with the bowling. The opening pair M. Sugden and J. Macdonald gave the side a capital start by putting on 85 for the first wicket.

 

Sugden's was good forcing work, and Macdonald, a left-hander, gave a stylish display. A double change in the bowling, D.S. Weir and C.S. Paterson for W. Anderson and A.R. Forrester, was needed before a separation was effected. At lunch two wickets were down for 107.

 

Anderson resumed bowling after the interval, and got a wicket in each of his first two overs to put the Scots in a fighting position. Thereafter, with the exception of J.R. Peacocke, there were not many run-getters in the Irish side.

 

Eight of the men originally selected were not playing. The result, however, of the first day's play was in large part due to the useful changes the Scottish captain made in his attack, and the fine fielding of the side, which made few mistakes, and none of them costly. The Irish innings lasted two hours and a half.

 

John Kerr and I.T. Parker then put the Scots in a strong position. They made no attempt to force the scoring till near the close. It was watchful batting, with the intention of making a useful foundation, rather than pleasing the crowd with spectacular cricket.

 

Kerr survived a confident appeal for a catch at the wicket when 82, but otherwise neither was in danger from the bowlers, though both ran the risk of being run out through Parker's bad judgement of a run, and Kerr's weak knee.

 

The Irish captain has so far tried seven bowlers. Kerr has hit thirteen 4's and Parker seven. There were about 2000 spectators present.

 

Day 2:
A great advantage was gained by Scotland's cricketers over those of Ireland on Saturday in the three days' international contest at Glenpark, Greenock, and at the close of yesterday's play that advantage had been converted into what might be a tolerably safe winning position.

 

Everything indeed, pointed to a Scottish victory, granted the weather did not put a veto on any further cricket today, for Scotland had not only finished their first innings with a lead of 254, but had captured seven Irish wickets in the second for 72 runs. If anything can be assured in cricket, the Irishmen were left in a hopeless position.

 

On the day's play the Scot's were well ahead of their opponents, both in batting and bowling, and if they did not excel the Irishmen in fielding, they certainly gave nothing away in comparison in that department. It was, however, chiefly with the bat that they showed their superiority, and even if the Irish bowling were not of a particularly high class, especially towards the close of the day, it was a remarkably fine performance for the Scots to score such a huge total as 464, that one of them should get a century, and that seven others should obtain double figures.

 

Of course, Kerr's innings of 137 was the outstanding feature of the batting in the game, but several of the others also did good work, and none more so than J.M. Fleming, of the Carlton, who batted with great confidence as well as skill and power, and who kept wicket in excellent style. He was far ahead of the Irishman behind the stumps, D. Cordiner. There were no fewer than 50 extras conceded to Scotland, and 36 of them were from byes.

 

When stumps were drawn yesterday, Ireland still needed 182 runs to save an innings defeat.

 

Kerr who was 93 not out on Saturday, soon secured the seven runs he required to complete his 100. He cut the first ball of the day to the boundary, and the other runs came quickly from singles. A hearty cheer greeted his success.

 

Runs were never obtained quickly, both batsmen biding their time, and Parker was at the wicket for twenty minutes before he got the two he needed for his 50. Kerr went on the even tenour of his way, and the Greenock man was always scoring faster than his partner, who, as on Saturday, was cautiousness personified.

 

Kerr's innings, which lasted fully three hours, came to an end with the Scottish score seven short of the Irish total. It was a disappointment that the opening pair had not stood until the opposition score was reached. Parker left, also bowled by Walker, with the scores equal, and, with D.S. Weir out to the first ball he received, three wickets were down before the Irish total was passed. At that point Walker met with a lot of success, so much so that it seemed as if the Scottish total was not to be much ahead of that of Ireland.

 

It was a masterly innings Kerr played, one of his best, and, with twenty two 4's, he got his runs in fairly quick time, at an average rate of about 45 runs an hour. On Saturday a misunderstanding nearly led to him being run out, but otherwise he gave no chance, though he survived a confident appeal for a catch at the wicket, which even the batsman himself thought should be given against him.

 

Yesterday he was missed by the wicket-keeper from a palpable snick soon after he had got three figures. These blemishes apart, it was a very fine display he gave, and it was an all-round one too, for he showed no partiality for any particular stroke, Cuts and pulls and clever placings yielded him most of his runs. He did not indulge in many drives, and it was in having a go for such a stroke that he was ultimately dismissed.

 

Parker, who had nine 4's, was at the wicket for five minutes longer, and, if he got less than half the runs of his partner, he had very much less of the bowling. It was a splendid partnership of 203 that Kerr and he participated in, and there was always good style and frequently effectiveness about his play.

 

Neither J.D. Martin or J Grieve gave much trouble, and the latter was out to a fine one handed catch at mid-off. The catching of the Irishmen, was generally very good, and both S.J. Stevenson and G.L.D. Hole fell to splendid work on the part of the fieldsmen, the catch that dismissed the Scottish captain being of a spectacular order.

 

D.C. Pickeman, who was in the deep field, looked to be giving Hole a "life," as he had done to C.S. Paterson just before, but after letting the ball out of his hands he had the good luck to see it bounce into the air, and he grabbed at it in desperation, to bring off a catch that elicited a hearty outburst of cheering.

 

Stevenson batted with polish and good effect, and both Hole and Paterson, after slow starts, scored well, the former getting a lot of his runs by his favourite glances to leg. That pair put on 76 for the seventh wicket.

 

W Anderson got his runs quickly, and his 26 was made up of four 4's, a 2 and singles. Hole had five 4's.

 

Nine wickets were down for 397, and the question was, would the 400 be reached? That was soon answered in the affirmative, and so firm a grip of the bowling did the batsmen take that they put on 67, and even then were not separated, the closure being applied at 464.

 

J.M. Fleming's innings was a particularly fine one, and it was immediately after he had passed his half hundred that Captain Hole called on the Irishmen to retire. The young Carlton man scored so freely that he got his runs in about three quarters of an hour. Most of his strokes were perfectly executed, if he had one or two bad ones.

 

He was caught by G.N. Kelly at mid-off when 29 from a bump ball, and just before reaching his 50, and also with the stroke that gave him that figure, he put the ball up awkwardly and dangerously.

 

The Scottish innings lasted six hours and ten minutes, so that the rate of going, on an average was quite good.

 

The Irishmen had an hour and a half to bat at the close of the day, and fared so poorly against the bowling of Anderson, Paterson, and Forrester that seven wickets were got for 72 runs. Paterson and Forrester were particularly effective, and each had three wickets.

 

The bowlers were largely indebted to good work by the fielders for their success. Fleming had two good catches at the wicket. Stevenson had a nice one in the slips, and Grieve took a very hot catch at point with one hand. Three wickets fell at the same total, 64, and two from successive balls by Forrester.

 

The only mistake made was when Martin missed A.C. Douglas near the boundary, off Forrester's bowling, but as the batsman added but one more run the "life" had no effect on the game.

 

Weir and Hole came on late in the hope of breaking up the eighth wicket partnership, which lasted some twenty minutes or so, relieving Paterson at 70, when the Carlton man had bowled fourteen successive overs, and Forrester at 71 respectively.

 

Forrester finished with four maidens. G.N. Kelly and A.E. Barry played out time in stubborn style, and were content to keep up their wickets, frequently making no attempt to play the ball with their bats, but using their legs, and notably to Forrester, who was making the ball break a lot.

 

There was during the day an attendance of about 1500, making about 3500 for the two days, of whom 2800 paid for admission.

 

Day 3:
After half an hour's play in the cricket international at Glenpark, Greenock, yesterday, the Irishmen's second innings closed for a total of 107, the Scotsmen thus winning by an innings and 147 runs.

 

Kelly (4) and Barry (1) continued the innings against the attack of Anderson and Paterson. Kelly started promisingly, hitting a boundary off the first ball sent down to him by the Dunfermline man. He had been only ten minutes at the wicket, however, when he was caught by DS Weir. The total was 90 at the fall of the wicket, and Barry had not increased his overnight score of 1.

 

Walker was the next man in, and his partnership with Barry had been in progress a few minutes when the North man scored his first run of the day. Shortly afterwards the 100 went up. At 107 Walker went out to a catch by Stevenson and the total was unchanged when Cordner was caught by Weir.

(Article: Copyright © 2013 Cricket Scotland http://cricketscotland.com)