In the freshmen's trial match at Cambridge in 1926 Irvine was the unexpected star: Wisden Cricketers' Almanack noted that much was anticipated from known public school players such as Maurice Turnbull and Bunty Longrigg, but that Irvine took eight wickets for 32 runs in the first innings with his slow legbreaks, and a further three in the second to finish with match figures of 11 for 42.
[7][2][8] Wisden noted in its 1927 edition that Irvine was the best bowler in the Cambridge side and, had he played on faster pitches, he "might well have met with still more success".
[10] At the end of the university cricket season he played in one match for an East of England team against the New Zealand touring team and in one game for Kent County Cricket Club's First XI, as well as playing five times for Kent's Second XI in the Minor Counties Championship.
He commanded the 2nd Field Ambulance, RAMC in North Africa and 1st Mobile Military Hospital in Italy, rising to the rank of temporary Lieutenant colonel by the end of the war.
He was Commanding Officer, Military Hospital Wheatley near Oxford between 1951 and 1953 and served in Sudan, Germany, the Middle East, Cyprus and in Britain after the war, retiring in September 1962.