The annual match with Phoenix had become the hightlight of the Dublin club programme, drawing big attendances and winning more space in the daily press than would be now given to Test matches. The 1885 encounter, the proceeds of which went to Baggot Street Hospital, was labelled by the Freeman's Journal as "the great three-day match between the two crack clubs of Ireland."

By now an Irish team did not take the field without a good representation of Leinster players. J.A.C.Penny and H.J.Hemsworth took almost 100 club wickets apiece each season - in 1881, for instance, Penny had 95 victims and Hemsworth 89 as hardly anyone else in the team got a bowl - and the club also boasted top-class batsmen, with A.J.Fleming as the most prolific of all. In many ways he was an extraordinary character. When batting, he always wore an eyeglass which he found necessary to remove and wipe after every ball, causing an infuriating delay for fuming bowlers.

"Though he did not stand out as a flamboyant hitter, he was always safe, courageous, never to be flustered," recorded the Irish Field. When over 50 years of age, Fleming achieved a phenomenal feat by carrying his bat for 229 against Phoenix.

Another stalwart of the 1880's was T.J.Tobin, a fast bowler of the tear-away mould and a genuine No.11 batsman. Tobin toured Canada and the United States in 1888 with the Irish team where he featured prominently but in vain in several nerve-tingling finishes before crowds of over 10000 people!

Leinster also produced the first century maker on the international field when F.G.Kempster notched 105 not out against I.Zingari at the Viceregal ground in 1876. The previous year against the same opposition he made 92 in a big stand with William Hone. A member of a well-known cricketing family in County Galway, Kempster was a superb on-side batsman. His son, James Francis, was also to play for Leinster and Ireland.

In all some 37 Leinster players played for Ireland in the 1800's and their playing averages are recorded in full later in the this brochure. (they will be included on the website at a later date)

Those were exhilarating days - days on which the sun never seemed to set as Leinster , in an adventurous, pioneering spirit established themselves as a major cricketing power in the land. The boys from Rathmines had indeed won a permanent place in the summer sun

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