This was rather an ill fated tour due to the absence of many of the best Irish players. Only five of the original choices went. They were JG Aston, FH Browning, WL Coffey, W Mooney and WH Napper. Even of these, three, Aston, Coffey and Mooney, had not played for Ireland. GJ Meldon, LA Meldon, WW Meldon, RH Lambert, SD Lambert, GWF Kelly, TC Ross, W Pollock and HH Corley were among those who could not go. Of the great quartet of bowlers (RH Lambert, GWF Kelly, TC Ross and W Harrington) only Harrington could be persuaded to travel. Of the substitute choices WP Home, HM Read and JE Lynch never previously played for Ireland. In general the batting was very suspect and it collapsed completely in the two matches against Philadelphia. The tour was made at the invitation of the Philadelphian Cricketers and the party left Liverpool on the SS Megantic on Thursday, August 26. On route the players selected FH Browning as captain. On September 2nd the team arrived in Montréal. After two games in Canada, for which caps were not awarded, the team came to New York.

This match had a most remarkable start. New York won the toss and decided to bat on a wicket made soft by a downpour the previous day. Hoskings and Keenan opened to the bowling of Napper and Harrington. Hoskings, considered the best bat in New York, was caught by Magee at point off the last ball of Harrington's first over. In Napper's first over Keenan and Gordon were caught at slip by Aston off successive balls. Molloy was bowled by Harrington in his second over. Clarke was splendidly caught on the boundary by Morrow in Napper's second over. Kelly got a fast yorker from Harrington and six wickets were down for nothing! Marshall scored the first runs amid great cheers but the whole team were out for 29, one more than New York made against the 1896 Australians. The captain, Griffith, made 11 and actually drove Napper out of the ground. Two balls later Napper had him caught at extra cover. In six overs Napper took 6-21 and Harrington took 4-7 in 6.1 overs. The batsmen too often played forward to balls breaking away.

At 1 p.m. Browning and Morrow open for Ireland. At 4 Morrow was brilliantly stumped by Marshall off Hoskings. After lunch Browning and Mooney brought the score to 51 but Kelly and Hoskings had a great spell and six were out for 65. Napper and Harrington added 37 and put 100 up. Harrington was then caught for 19 and shortly after Napper was wonderfully caught by Gordon at point. The innings ended for 127, Clarke bowling well after lunch to take 4-21.

The wicket was now much drier but in the last hour New York lost five wickets for 78. Robinson, who had been number 11 in the first innings, opened with Keenan. At 15 Browning stumped Robinson off Napper and at 24 Keenan played too soon and hit a catch. Hoskins gave a hard chance to mid-off on the second ball he received but it was missed. At 41 Coffey came on in place of Harrington but it was Napper who got the third wicket, Stevenson being caught and bowled for 18. Napper trimmed Molloy's bails two balls later. Hoskins was playing well and he

and Gordon took the score to 78 when Aston took over and bowled Gordon with his first ball. Play then ended for the day with Hoskings 27 not out.

At 11:30 a.m. on Monday the game was resumed. Two wickets fell quickly. Hoskings only added five before Harrington bowled him. However the last three wickets gave a lot of trouble. Durrant hit hard and well even if with some luck. He made 47 not out and the total reached 177. The 10th wicket added 38, Durrant hitting 17 off one over from Lynch. The wicket was now almost perfect and Ireland required 80 to win. Browning and Andrews failed to score and three were out for 23. However, Aston hit up 15 very quickly and finally Morrow hit off the runs with Read keeping his end up. Morrow was missed when 10 in what could have been a vital chance for New York. This was the first of Morrow's splendid innings in the important matches of the tour. As usual, the hospitality in New York was wonderful.