Hobart : Ireland crushed two-time T20 World champions by nine wickets to qualify for the Super-12, sending the West Indies packing to the Caribbean on Friday at Bellerive Oval, Hobart.
Explosive batter Paul Stirling remained unbeaten and played a match-winning knock of 66 runs from 48 deliveries to knock the West Indies out of the T20 World Cup 2022. Chasing the target, Ireland went hell for leather from the beginning and scored 64 runs from their powerplay overs. Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie opened the inning for Ireland and took a liking to the West Indian bowlers clobbering them all over the park.
Akeal Hosein, who was smashed for 16 runs in his first over came back in the eighth over to dismiss the Irish captain Balbirnie for 37 off 23 balls. The batter made sure that his team got off to a flier and stitched a 73-run first-wicket partnership before walking back to the pavilion.
West Indies could only manage the Ireland captain’s wicket in the entire inning.
Lorcan Tucker walked in at number three and went about in the same fashion as his captain taking apart the West Indian bowlers.
Sterling continued his merry way to notch up his half-century in the 12th over off just 32 balls.
Tucker was caught out of Odean Smith in the same over but was called back as Smith had overstepped giving the batter a reprieve.
Things worsened for the West Indies as both the batter looked to score freely and ensured that the Indies never came back in the match.
The batting duo of Stirling and Tucker took Ireland over the line as they stitched a 77-run partnership.
Earlier, the West Indies set a below-par chase for Ireland after Brandon King anchored the innings to take his team to 146 in the do-or-die situation for the Caribbean team.
Opting to bat first, the West Indies innings started with a boundary in the first over but they had their first wicket knocked out in the second. Kyle Mayers was dismissed cheaply by Barry McCarthy.
Irish bowlers kept things tight and chipped with wickets at important junctures in the match to never let the West Indian inning flourish.
Boasting big hitters throughout their lineup, the batting looked fragile with batters failing to make their starts count and losing wickets when the team needed partnerships, sending their team into trouble.
Brandon King was the only batter to apply himself at the crease and remained unbeaten while carrying the West Indian inning. The batter top-scored for West Indies with a knock of 62 runs.
Odean Smith and King smashed 34 runs off the last three overs to post a below-par total for Ireland. Smith remained unbeaten with 19 from 11 balls while King took the batting honours for his team, carrying his bat through the innings.
Gareth Delany was the pick of the Irish bowlers with 3/16 from his four overs.
Brief Score: West Indies 146/5 (Brandon King 62*, Johnson Charles 24; Gareth Delany 3/16) vs Ireland 150/1 (Paul Sterling 66*, Lorcan Tucker 45*; Akeal Hosein 1/38)
