England Test player John Stephenson led a strong Hampshire squad in the first of two one-day matches against a team selected by the former Ireland batsman Pat Dineen, at The Mardyke, Cork, yesterday. A second one-day, 25 overs match will be played today (11.0).

Apart from Stephenson, the Hampshire squad includes several other Test stars, among them the West Indian pair Malcolm Marshall and Cardigan Connor, as well as England's Robin Smith and Monte Lynch.

A feature of yesterday's match was an undefeated 132 scored for the local team by Carlisle's Jason Molins, the top batsman in Leinster this season.