West Indies defeated Ireland by a mere margin of 24 runs. By winning the 1st bilateral ODI Match West Indies have bagged 10 crucial World Super League points. Just before the match was going to commence Ireland were dealt with a huge blow as Simi Singh & Ben White tested positive for Covid-19. The wrecker in chief & the Man of the Match was the debutant Shamarh Brooks. He notched up a stupendous knock of 93 runs in 89 balls which consisted of 9 fours & 3 sixes. Though he would rue the fact of missing out on a hundred, the Camp would be delighted as they found a proper white ball batter.
Ireland had won the toss & elected to field first. West Indies managed to score a challenging total of 270 runs, where the bounce of the pitch was uneven. The skipper Andrew Balbirnie & the veteran William Porterfield started off the innings. Porterfield was sent back by the crafty spinner Akeal Hossain. The power-play for Ireland wasn’t quite fruitful as they managed to score 30 runs for the expense of 1 wicket. In the 17th over Andy McBrine got injured (*retired hurt) in the middle of his innings. He scored a decent knock of 34 runs in 50 balls.
Balbirnie & McBrine were involved in 61 runs partnership. Then came the rising Harry Tector. The run rate was peaking at 9 runs per over, yet it wasn’t perturbing as Ireland had 9 wickets in tank. Just when it looked like the ship was sailing smoothly the gigantic partnership of 103 runs was broken. Romario Shepherd broke the dangerous partnership by getting rid of the skipper Andrew Balbirnie. Balbirnie scored a dazzling knock of 71 runs in 94 balls as scoring was tough.
Ireland required 105 runs in 83 balls, the captain was back in the dug-out. All of a sudden, the momentum of the match changed drastically. Ireland had a tough scenario to attain as they required 92 runs in last 10 overs with 6 wickets in hand. Harry Tector too got dismissed before the last 10 overs. Odean Smith the turbulent all-rounder got rid of Tector. He managed to score 53 runs in 68 balls The batters present at the crease were blatantly new to the mission ahead.
George Dockrell tried to put the run rate under 10 runs per over, but he didn’t get ample support from others. West Indies bundled out Ireland inside 50 overs for 245 runs with 5 balls remaining. Dockrell was the only positive aspect amongst others in the last 10 overs where he scored 30 runs in 25 balls. The Youth Sensations Alzarri Joseph & Romario Shepherd took responsibilities on their shoulders to wrap up the game. Joseph’s figures were staggering as he priced out 3 wickets for 55 runs in his 10 overs quota. Shepherd’s role was pivotal as he took 3 wickets & got rid of the big fish Balbirnie.
Asked to bat first West Indies had 3 new faces: Justin Greaves, Shamarh Brooks & Odean Smith. The debutant Justin Greaves was targeted from the word go. West Indies managed to amass only 36 runs in 10 overs for the loss of 1 wicket. Ireland’s bowlers sensed that they can deepen the agony of Caribbean batters. Ireland had hit West Indies so perfectly, that the score was 91 runs for 4 wickets in 26 overs. Mark Adair was the pick of the bowlers where his line & lengths were impeccable as he was able to drag West Indies down.
The Beast Skipper Kieron Pollard along with the novice Shamarh Brooks had another ideas. Both of them first of all made sure that they stick to the crease. Pollard took the responsibility of scoring runs as on the other side Brooks was looking for rotating the strike. Both the batters were involved in 155 runs partnership. The score at that point was 217 runs with 8.2 overs remaining. Pollard was undone by the brilliance of Craig Young as Pollard scored a feisty 69 runs in 66 balls including 4 fours & 4 sixes.
Brooks took over from Pollard & made sure that West Indies put on a competitive total of 270 runs. In doing so West Indies didn’t bat the full quota of 50 overs as they got all out in 48.5 overs. Brooks knock was calm & attacking one as he scored 93 runs in 89 balls. From Ireland the pick of the bowers were Craig Young & Mark Adair were both of them took 3 wickets each. Mark Adair was sensational with the new ball where he broke the back of West Indies batting line up whereas Craig Young was absolutely lethal at the later stages of the game.
West Indies know that Ireland have given them a sniff. West Indies would look to avoid embarrassment & ignominy as for 2019 Cricket World Cup they had to play 2018 World Cup Qualifiers with minnow nations. West Indies have 50 points out of 10 matches
Ireland would be unhappy as they had the match under control for the majority of the game. Ireland currently have 60 points out of 16 matches as the journey has been topsy-turvy. Every match for Ireland is a literally do-or-die, qualification scenarios don’t look promising unless they win a Series.
Both the skippers & management should keep one thing in mind that they are playing for the elusive trophy.
Articles 