In the 11th match of the first round in the T20 World Cup, Ireland defeated West Indies by a huge margin of 9 wickets to make it to the Super 12. Playing first, West Indies scored 146/5 in 20 overs, in reply scoring 152/1 in the 18th over itself. Gareth Delany (3/16) was adjudged Player of the Match for his excellent bowling performance.
Winning the toss, West Indies elected to bat first but the team got off to a poor start. Opening batsman Kyle Meyers was dismissed for 10 in the fourth ball of the third over after scoring just 1 run. Johnson Charles played some good shots but he too got out after scoring 24 runs in 18 balls. Evin Lewis disappointed once again and went on to score just 13 runs in 18 balls.
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Captain Nicholas Pooran’s poor form continued and he was dismissed for 13 runs in 11 balls. Rovman Powell also could not do much and could contribute only 6 runs. However, in the middle order, Brandon Kings took an unbeaten half-century while handling one end and added 34 runs from 21 balls with Odeon Smith for the sixth wicket to take the team to a respectable score.
King scored an unbeaten 62 off 48 balls with the help of six fours and a six, while Smith also returned unbeaten on 19 off 12 balls, hitting two sixes and a four. Gareth Delany of Ireland took three successes for 16 runs.
Chasing the target, Ireland started with a bang. The opening pair of Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie scored 64 runs in the powerplay itself. The team got the first blow on the score of 73 and Balbirnie became the victim of Aqeel Hossain after scoring 37 runs in 23 balls with the help of three fours and three sixes.
However, Sterling did not stop as he continued to bat and completed his fifty in 32 balls. Lorcan Tucker (45 *) also batted well and, supporting Sterling, played a key role in his team’s victory. Sterling remained unbeaten on 66 off 48 balls.
