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Ireland International Matches
MCC drew with Ireland
2 Day, Lord's, 5 August 1999
Scorecard
Philip Boylan, Irish Independent

Ireland had a good day out against the MCC at Lord's closing the first of two days at 179-2 in reply to 177-8 declared.

The MCC's Giles Toogood won the toss and just when it looked as though Ireland would have the pleasure of bowling the opposition out he declared and put Jason Molins and Barry Archer in to bat for a nervous seven overs before tea. They survived and later prospered to reach 104 before Molins departed in the 27th over, having collected 74 runs from 90 deliveries, including 13 fours and one six. Archer faced 17 balls before getting off the mark but then picked up the pace and notched five fours in his 36 from 102 deliveries before falling to leg-spinner Kevin Sedgbeer.

When Peter Davy got to the middle he set off much in the manner he had tackled the South Africans in that marvellous knock at Eglinton and there is every indication that if he reaches another half-century this morning the skipper Angus Dunlop will declare to set up an entertaining final day.

The Ireland team and officials at Lord's

All five Irish bowlers had contributed earlier, and while Greg Molins was the only one not to take a wicket the opposition were wary of his slow left-arm bowling, taking only 14 from his nine overs. Richard McDaid, who only came on to the Irish scene when Ryan Eagleson went to Derbyshire earlier this summer, tried too hard early on but then settled down to top the bill with 3-43.

Even in distant Lord's there was much talk about the Brigade club's lifting of its ban on Stephen Smyth pending the ICU enquiry on Sunday into an incident at the Irish team headquarters during the South African visit. Three members of his club's committee have resigned over the matter and it will be interesting to see how it affects their performance tomorrow when they are hosts to Merrion in the Royal Liver Cup semi-final at Beechgrove.

Pembroke Captain Peter Davy walked out of Lord's yesterday evening with a first century for Ireland as a glorious memory from a match which had draw written all over it from an early stage. It was quite obvious from the previous day that the pitch was becoming docile and it can only have been a fanciful notion of bowling the MCC out cheaply which had Angus Dunlop waiting until his side were 343-5 before declaring at lunch.

That gave Ireland 3½ hours, plus a minimum 20 overs in the last hour, in which to bowl the home side out for less than 166 runs for an innings victory. Steve Dean's 76 from 59 balls soon put an end to that plan.

Davy played some glorious shots in his 132 from 150 balls but a few of his eight sixes (plus nine fours) were gifted off modest bowling by legspinner Kevin Sedgbeer, which he despatched over the short boundary into the new grandstand. Davy's mark is, in fact, second highest of Ireland players against the MCC at Lord's to Alf Masood's 1985 score of 138, and is, in fact, joint 13 best of all to Ivan Anderson's 198 against Canada in 1973 in 521 capped internationals.