Cricket World Cup: West Indies lose to Ireland in first big upset
, Feb. 16 (NsNewsWire) — Ireland have provided the first upset of the Cricket World Cup after their well-timed run chase saw them beat the West Indies by four wickets in Nelson.
The West Indies, once a force in world cricket, batted first today and racked up 304-7, which looked a competitive score on a sun-drenched Saxton oval wicket, reports http://www.nzherald.co.nz/cricket-world-cup/news/article.cfm?c_id=497&objectid=11402879.
But the men from the Caribbean provided little consistency in their bowling attack and Ireland’s underrated batting line-up guided them home as contributions from Paul Stirling (92) and Ed Joyce (84) led the charge.
Niall O’Brien (79 not out) hit the accelerator when he needed to, which eventually saw Ireland, ranked 12th in the world to the West Indies’ eighth, get home in the 46th over, despite a few late wobbles, as they finished at 307-6.
“It’s good to get that first win of the competition,” Stirling said after the game where he was presented with the man-of-the-match award.
This wasn’t the type of win that was a complete shock given Ireland upset England at the 2011 World Cup when they also managed to chase down more than 300 to get the win.
Irish skipper William Porterfield said his side had the ability to push for a quarter-final berth.
“It’s been a belief through the squad building up and there’s no reason why we can’t,” he said.
Ireland’s victory, which has provided interest to Pool B, was also helped by their superb fielding effort and at one stage the West Indies were in all sorts of trouble at 87-5 after they lost the toss and were put in to bat.
That decision from Porterfield seemed curious given teams batting first had won the first four games of the World Cup by putting big totals on the board and backing their bowlers to defend the target.
Porterfield said he felt his side would get the new ball to swing, as it had during their training runs in Nelson, and although that didn’t eventuate, their bowling was tight.
Left-arm spinner George Dockrell was the best-performed as he took 3-50, including the key wicket of West Indies opener Chris Gayle who looked laboured as he plodded his way to 36 from 65 balls.
Gayle, one of the world’s most destructive ball-strikers on his day, wasn’t able to hit top gear throughout his innings and it was left to Lendl Simmons (102) and Darren Sammy (89) to help the Calypso Kings produce a total of substance.
The Simmons and Sammy show laid on 154 for the sixth wicket, which helped the West Indies to a respectable score but you can’t count the Irish out of this World Cup and they delivered in professional fashion.
“I think it was a good toss to win and insert the West Indies and I think we utilised that and got quick, early wickets,” Stirling said. “So I think the pitch got better and better as the day went on.”