ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

played by both sides meant that there was no room in the calendar for the three-day encounter. Between the Wars, Ireland played a small number of other matches which were granted first-class status, including fixtures against the MCC and the touring teams of the Full-Member countries visiting England. From 1946, matches against Scotland and, from 1948, the MCC formed the basis of Ireland’s first-class programme with very occasional matches against English county sides and touring teams. With Ireland’s participation in the English county one-day competitions from 1980 onwards, the opportunities for multi-day cricket were less and were it not for the Intercontinental Cup it is doubtful if any would have been played after the match against Scotland in 2000. Their next first-class match outside of the Cup was not until April 2010 when Ireland met Jamaica whilst on a short tour of the West Indies. Scotland’s inaugural first-class match resulted in a draw against the visiting Australians at Edinburgh in 1905. Their matches against the West Indians in 1906 and the South Africans in 1907, both of which were lost, were also rated first-class. From 1908, some first-class cricket was played against Full-Member countries touring England, the English counties or Ireland every year until 2000 except during the two World Wars. Scotland played many more first-class games against the English counties than Ireland, 44 against 7, reflecting greater proximity without the need for a sea journey as well as intermittent concerns about security in Ireland arising from the Irish struggle for independence and later, in Northern Ireland, the activities of both Catholic and Protestant paramilitary organisations. Of the first-class matches against county sides, Scotland won three whereas Ireland have yet to defeat an English county in a first-class fixture. As was the case with Ireland, participation in English one-day competitions from 1980 on produced a crowded fixture list and no first-class cricket was played by Scotland after 2000 until the Intercontinental Cup began. The other Associate country to begin first-class cricket before the First World War was Argentina. The standard of cricket was certainly high because of the number of cricketers with first-class English county experience who settled in the country on either a temporary or permanent basis. These included William Leach (Lancashire) who set up a sugar estate in the northwest of the country which, at various times, provided employment for all six of his brothers, Howard Garnett (Lancashire), Gilbert Tosetti (Essex) and Evelyn Toulmein (Essex). Another with first-class cricket experience was Sydney Cowper (Western Province). Shortly after its formation in 1911 the Argentine Cricket Association invited the MCC to tour. A strong amateur side was sent, captained by Lord Hawke and including A.C.MacLaren, and the three matches against Argentina were classified as first-class. Argentina won the first as the tourists struggled against the bowling of Herbert Dorning and Philip Foy, the latter later to play for Somerset, whilst still adjusting to the local conditions. Argentinian cricket maintained its high standard in the 1920s and 1930s and the representative matches against the MCC in 1926/27, Sir Julian Cahn’s team in 1930 and Sir T.E.W.Brinckman’s side in 1937/38 were all rated first-class. Argentinian players also formed the bulk of a South American touring party which came to England in 1932; six of their matches were first-class. The team relied heavily on its two all-rounders, Dennet and Cecil Ayling, both right-handed batsmen but bowling leg breaks and right-arm fast-medium respectively. Dennet Ayling, particularly, adapted well to English conditions, taking 33 wickets in the first-class games at an average of 16.06. Argentinian cricket then fell in standard throughout the 1940s and 1950s as British influence declined and when the MCC toured in 1959, the Argentinians were outclassed. The matches against Brinckman’s side in 1938 were the last to be considered first-class. Between the two World Wars, Argentina, Ireland and Scotland were the only Associate countries to play first-class cricket. After the Second World War ended, Scotland and Ireland resumed their annual first-class fixture in 1946. As noted above, Fiji was retrospectively returned to first-class status in 1948, a state that held until 1954. In late summer 1951, the MCC sent a team of fourteen amateurs, under the captaincy of R.W.V.Robins, to Canada in an endeavour to popularise the game there. Although Canada lost the three-day representative fixture in early September by 141 runs, as a result of a batting collapse in their second innings, they impressed with their high standard of fielding, the batting of the former Glamorgan player, Tom Brierley, and the left-arm pace bowling of Yorkshire-born Brian Christen who took seven for 80 in the tourists’ second innings and caused considerable difficulty on the matting wicket. As a result, the MCC 4 Introduction